Bad Luck Strikes at Midnight (Revised and Better)
by ReneeDenim
Summary: Kirsten is a Sweeper with no memory of her past, only going by the name on a passport. With her partner, Sven Vollfied, they fight crime and claim bounties. But with an unintentional encounter with the infamous assasin, Black Cat; life changes forever, lives will be put at risk, and an unlikely love will grow for two unlikely people
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Lost

My name is Kristen, I'm 19 years old, and I'm a sweeper or bounty hunter. And that's all I pretty much know. I don't know how and I don't know why, but I can't remember who I am.

All I can pretty much remember is waking up on the side of train tracks somewhere in Thunder Mountain a year ago. I was soaking wet from the cold night rain and I was covered in mud. But the oddest thing is that I didn't have a scratch on me. My clothes were ripped so I guess I fell or jumped off of a train, but how was I not hurt? I was dizzy, but that was pretty much it.

I walked back up the train tracks; the rain was so heavy that I couldn't see more than a few feet in front of my face. The rain soaked through my black trench coat and black jeans. I kept tripping over my feet. I was so tired, but I didn't dare stop walking.

Who am I? I thought. My name is…. What is my name? I can't remember!

I don't remember how long I was walking but after I finally reached the main road, I finally tripped into a puddle and couldn't get up. I must be dying, right? But I guess I'm ok with it, so I closed my eyes, and waited silently for death.

"Hey?" A male's voice broke the sound of rain and thunder. "Are you ok?" A hand shook me lightly on the shoulder.

I pried open my eyes and saw a man. He had green hair, an eye patch over his left eye and his right eye was brown. He wore a white fedora and a white suit and was smoking a cigarette.

"I… I don't know… why?" I said. Surprisingly, my voice was rather sturdy considering that I was dying in the rain.

The man looked worried. "I was worried, you were just lying in the middle of the road and I thought you were dead." He helped me stand up. I nearly fell over, but he helped steady me. "Are you ok?"

"I'm ok… I think…" I said.

"What's your name?" The man asked. "My name is Sven Vollfied."

"I…" I tried to remember. "I don't remember my name."

"You mean you have amnesia?" Sven asked.

"I guess so…" I said.

Sven looked worried. "Well, I can't leave you alone in the middle of nowhere. I'll give you a ride to town, is that ok?"

I thought about it; I didn't know this man, and something in me didn't trust him. But I was out of options; I didn't know who I was or what I was going to do. So I had no other choice. "Sure, thanks." I heard my voice say.

Sven smiled, it was a nice smile, even with a cigarette in his mouth. "Great, my truck is right behind us." He led me to his truck and I climbed into the passenger's seat and Sven drove us to the nearest town.

Thunder Mountain is on the outskirts of a town called McCall. It was a cozy town really, very quaint. A drug store filled with books and toys, an ice rink for skating and ice hockey, a lake with its own version of the Scotland monster named 'Sharley' and many cute restaurants. We parked at a small restaurant with a wooden door.

"We'll get something to eat here, ok?" Sven stated.

"Sure," I said. The smell of pizza's and bread made my mouth water. I was starving, and I don't know how long it's been since I've last eaten.

"How old are you?" Sven asked as we walked across the parking lot, with an umbrella over our heads. "Do you remember how old you are?"  
I thought, I think I did remember. "Eighteen…" I said. "I'm eighteen."

"Hmm…" Sven opened the door for me. "At least that gives us something to work with." We sat at a table and ordered steak, potatoes, and hot coffee even though it was about ten at night. It all tasted like heaven. Even the coffee, well, it tasted like mud, but it _felt_ like heaven.

"So…" Sven began. "What do you remember?"

"I think I might've taken a train to Thunder Mountain." I said. "But I might've gotten kicked off or I jumped off or something."

"But if you did jump off of a train, you seem perfectly fine." Sven said. "There isn't so much as a scratch on you; does your head hurt?"

"I felt a bit dizzy but that was it." I said. "But I have to ask about you; who are you exactly?"

Sven took a sip of coffee. "I'm a sweeper."

"A sweeper, what's that; a professional house cleaner?" I asked.

Sven grinned, as if it was funny, maybe it was. "No, 'sweeper' is a slang word for bounty hunter."

"Oh…" I said. I thought for a moment, maybe I did know what a sweeper was. "You arrest people and get paid for it, right?" I asked.

"Yeah, how do you know?" Sven asked. "Are you a sweeper?" My head started throbbing, so I put a hand over my forehead. "Hey, are you ok?" Sven asked.

"Y-yeah," I said. "I guess it sort of rings a bell. But I'm pretty sure I'm not a sweeper."

Sven thought for a moment. "Do you have some sort of ID in your jacket, maybe a wallet or a driver's license?"

I emptied out my pockets and what I found was a few sticks of gum, a passport, a disposable phone, a watch, a lighter, and a wallet. I checked inside; only my driver's license, a few credit cards, about two hundred dollars in cash, and a ripped photo; I saw… me I guess. I checked my hair color, black while in the photo I had blonde hair and blue eyes. I was smiling, a hand was on my shoulder but whose hand it was wasn't visible. The photo was horribly water stained, so only a blur of a person.

I checked the driver's licenses and passports, but I had five different driver's licenses and passports, all with different names and faces; Rebecca Tyler, a girl with brown hair and brown eyes for the Middle East, Samantha Coil, red hair with gray eyes for Africa, Charlotte Black, a girl with bleach white hair and green eyes for Europe, Loran Prate, a girl with auburn hair and bi-colored eyes for South America, and finally, Kirsten Lusk, a girl with black hair and blue eyes.

Kirsten Lusk, age 18, birthday August 17th 1995, height 6'0, weight 166 lb, Ethnicity European, half Japanese. I didn't know if this was the real me or a fake, but I decided to go by it.

"You must be some sort of spy or thief." Sven suggested. "I can't think of any other reason on why you'd have so many ID's."

"But, who am I really?" I asked. I was scared; I could be anyone of these people.

"Let me see…" Sven examined all of the ID's and passports. "I think you're Kirsten Lusk. I mean the passport for Kirsten Lusk is the one that has been recently stamped. Today's date is March 18th and this passport was recently stamped two days ago."

"Where was I last?" I asked.

Sven checked. "Uh… you were last in Japan."

I thought back to anything involving Japan… nothing. I shook my head. "But I don't know what I'm going to do now." I said. I put my head in my hands. "What am I going to do?"

"Hey, don't give up." Sven assured me. "It's not the end of the world."

"But what am I going to do?" I asked, trying not to fall into despair.

"Well, I can't let you wander the world all alone." Sven said. "I'll help you. It's my job to help people as a sweeper and a gentleman."

"That's very kind of you Mr. Vollfied." I said. "But I don't want to be a bother to you."

"You're not bothering me." Sven said. "And call me Sven,"

"Ok, Sven," I said. "What use can I be?"

Sven took a few posters out of his coat and set them on the table. "You can help me come up with a plan on how I'm going to catch these guys." I examined the posters; they listed names for several people. They were drug dealers, and each had a bounty on them.

"I see, you're currently on a job, right?"

"Yeah, I'm tracking down a couple of nasty drug dealers." Sven said. "They're somewhere in this town, but I have no idea where they are."

Suddenly, the door burst open and five guys came in.

"Yo!" One yelled at the woman at the counter; he had a video camera for some reason. "Get us a table and a pack of White Russian for the boys!" The woman was shocked, and the man was getting annoyed. "Come on baby! We're starving here!" Another man grabbed was holding a baseball bat. "You keep us waiting and we're gonna have to get rough."

Sven stood up. "You sit tight, ok?"

"What are you going to do?" I asked.

"Just sit tight." Sven walked over to the men and told them to knock off. The men laughed and one tried to punch him, but Sven caught it. In a flash it turned into huge fight. Sven was a good fighter, but there were five guys and they easily overpowered him.

I jumped up walked towards them. "Hey, leave him alone before you get hurt!"

"Oooh!" One said. "Lookie lookie, it seems that he has a girlfriend!" The guy turned his camera on me. "Now then, what are we going to do about her?" The guy with a baseball bat came up. "Give it to her rough!"

"You leave her alone!" Sven tried to get close to defend me, but one guy grabbed him and pinned him to the wall.

The baseball bat swung at me, and in that moment, the world seemed to move in slow motion, as he charged at me, my hands involuntarily flew forward, getting the man in the face. He fell over, dropping the bat. The others seemed shocked, then furious. Two of them got in ready positions to fight I loosened my shoulders, parted my feet and got ready. As if I knew what to do, but that was it, it all came so naturally to me.

The guy on my left swung his right fist at me; I caught it in an open fist. The guy on my right was pulling his foot back to kick me, but I beat him to it. The guy whose fist I had in my hand was swinging his left fist back to hit me but I moved my body to the side and blocked it with my shoulder. I released his fist and punched him over the head and pulled him in front of me in time to block a punch from the second guy. I shoved the guy I was holding to the ground. The guy with the baseball bat had recovered enough to stand and was swinging back his arm to swing, but I caught the baseball bat with two hands, swung the man around me and shoved him to the ground, releasing the bat.

Two other guys advanced, one swinging a glass bottle, which I blocked the arm with my shoulder. But the other guy grabbed my left arm from behind and dragged me backwards. The other guy grabbed my other arm, pulling me back to a wall.

"Kirsten!" Sven cried. He was trying to fight back.

A baseball bat swung towards me, but I used my foot to kick the guy's arm, stopping the assault. The guy on my right was about to kick me but I pulled my knee up and blocked it. The guy with the baseball bat turned it sideways and held it against my throat, in an attempt to choke me. But I managed to knock him back by using my shoulders to throw him back as well as the guy holding my right arm, but the guy on my left managed to punch me in the face, temporarily dazing me, but I refused to give up so I shoved him against the wall and punched him in the face.

The others were getting tired, but the man with the bat tried again to swing, but this time I grabbed the bat and twisted it out of his grip, throwing the man into the wall. Then they all came at me with every intention to punch me to death. But I had a baseball bat, and I used it to knock anyone who tried to get to close.

Only two were left, the guy with the video camera and the one holding Sven, and all three of them were staring at me with their jaws open, Sven's cigarette fell out of his mouth. Sven, recovering first, managed to overpower the guy holding him back and knocked him out with a choke hold.

"Holy shit…" the guy with the camera whispered. Sven snuck up behind him and tackled him to the ground.

"Hey you," I looked at the woman, who was amazed by what she had witnessed. "Call the cops, now." She snapped out of her amazement and called the police.

A few minutes later, the police had arrived and Sven got rewarded with at least fifty thousand dollars. Sven lit a fresh cigarette, looked at me and gapped.

"How did you do that?" He asked. "There were four guys, _four _guys, where'd you learn to fight like that?!"

I thought back, and my first memory resurfaced. "I learned how to fight at a military school, I don't remember what school, but I was training for some sort of agency."

"Well, at least that gives us something to work with." Sven said, and then he laughed. "I can't believe you were able to fight off four guys!"

"Thanks," I said, rather embarrassed. "But that doesn't really help me find any real memories that will help me. I mean, I don't exactly know what other uses I have besides being able to kick the crap out of someone."

Sven looked at me with a sort of forlorn expression. He thought about something, and then he asked. "You know, it gets kind of lonely being on the road all the time, and you've definitely got the potential, so… do you want to be a Sweeper?"

I blinked. "Really? Me? Become a Sweeper?"

"Yeah, but it's totally up to you." He said. "Obviously we'll have to get you a license to become a Sweeper, it's a difficult test, but I think you'll be able to pass."

I thought about it for a moment; I have no clue telling me who I am or where I came from… but I think being a Sweeper would be something I can use to help me find out who I am. If I truly am an agent or a thief, maybe I'll come across my name.

"Alright, but I have a few standards." I said.

Sven sighed. "What are they?"

"Well, I hope I can get some dry clothes." I said. My damp jeans and shirt began to cling to my skin. "And I'll need some form of gun, and…" I looked at the cigarette pack in his hand. "You'll need to lighten up on the smoking, or at least keep the windows rolled down."

Sven laughed. "I thought it'd be something terrible, girls are usually very demanding." He walked over to our table and picked up the lighter that was in my pocket. It had an emblem of a planet with a moon orbiting around it. "And I think that this will have to do until we can get you a proper gun."

"Great, I can burn people." I said sarcastically.

Sven smiled a bit. "Did you push the button?" He saw my confused look and pushed the emblem. It was apparently some kind of button that opened the lighter. But then, he pushed one side of the lighter down, as if it was on some kind of panel, then another side, and turned the whole thing sideways. He clicked the panels into place, and a trigger popped out.

"That thing is a gun?!" I asked, amazed. It was a tiny gun, about the size of a, well, lighter. But it had the shape of a revolver.

"Yeah, I used to own one of these things." He said. "These things hold .01 caliber bullets." Sven rearranged the gun back into the lighter, and handed it back to me. "These things are good to have around, but you're right, we'll have to get you some kind of a gun. Although we are a bit tight on money, so we'll have to wait."

"Well, we'll just have to work hard on getting extra cash." I say. "But first I'll need to take that test, right?"

"Yeah, but first…" Sven held out his hand, his face was very serious. "We're partners, so that means we have to work together. Can we trust each other?"

That suspicion I felt came back with a vengeance. I guess that it's only natural… but I trust Sven. Because, right now, he's all I have. He's probably the only way I can find out who I am.

I took his hand into mine and shook. "Alright, it's a deal; I'll be your partner."

Sven grinned again, but it was a sort of sad grin. Then I felt a sort of cold feeling, and I heard a voice in my head, a scream, a man screaming someone's name but it was so fast that I didn't register. One word, a name, and an image of a cat flashed into my mind for a split second, only it's eyes lingered in my memories…

"You ok, Kirsten?" Sven asked.

I shook it off. "Yeah, I'm ok."

"Well then," Sven turned around. "Check please!"

I managed to pass the test to become a Sweeper, and began my work of being a Sweeper. I used my small lighter gun, but if it turned into a gun fight I was to take cover. But throughout all the time I worked with Sven, I never recovered any memories of who I am. So many questions piled up; who am I? What did I used to do? How was I able to hear that voice when I held Sven's hand?

Nothing could prepare me for what I had to face next… And it all started... on a early summer's afternoon


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

One Year after That

Braccio City was a town somewhere near the western coast. If you're looking for a place filled to the brink with gangsters, drug dealers, and people so desperate to stay alive all you have to do is tell them to look the other way when shit hits the fan, then this is the place for you. Despite Braccio city's bright mood and shiny new buildings with business booming and an attitude that says 'hello world, I love you', the streets seemed too clean, and the town is just so… perfect…

That's the outside of the city, but on the inside… trash and graffiti covered the alley ways, and little do people know that the friendly neighbors or the nice man at the register is a drug dealer or a black mailer. Those who did know, either you play along or you run.

And today was a very special occasion; the election for mayor were over, and the whole town had donated a day of their lives and more than a million dollars to celebrate their newest governor; Lib Tyrant. So, how do they celebrate it? By signing a huge check and wasting it on a completely unnecessary parade. And they went all out this year.

Confetti rained from the sky in a brilliant rainbow, clowns in cartoon-like masks, men dressed up as dogs and women in skimpy clothes walked down the streets cheering crap like 'Yeah! We won! Peace has returned to the city!' And in the center of it all, a shiny red car holding up Braccio City's newest governor drove through the city slowly so everyone could get a glimpse of their newest 'savior', the man himself, Lib Tyrant.

He was built like a professional wrestler, with blonde, slicked back hair, dyed orange in the middle, and he had one of those million dollar smiles. He stood on that car in a tan suit, waving, letting all the love sink into his thick skull; stupid, naïve, bloody love.

So where do me and Sven fit into this picture? We don't. We stood in the shadows of the alleyways, observing. I looked at a nearby poster with Lib's face slapped onto it. It read; 'Strive for Peace! Vote for Lib Tyrant!'

"Oh, give me a freaking break…" I heard Sven mutter. "Lib Tyrant is a drug dealing, blackmailing, murdering, scum bag gangster. He's broken every law in the book and somehow he's been elected governor?" He turned to me. "Tell me that doesn't smell like road kill."

I examined the Sweeper poster with Lib Tyrant's bounty on it; $20,000,000 cash reward. "Don't worry, Lib, we'll knock you off your throne before your reign even begins." I muttered. Then I heard a growl coming from Sven's stomach and smiled. "After we get some lunch, right?"

"I dunno…" Sven said sorrowfully. "We're already pretty broke as it is."

I tilted my head and looked at him. "Having only two hundred dollars isn't exactly what I'd call 'broke'. Besides, I've been saving up for a rainy day so we've got at least ten thousand alone."

Sven frowned at me. "That cash you've saved is for emergencies!"

My own stomach growled. "Umm… doesn't starving to death count as an emergency?"

"Yeah," Sven said, starting to lean towards my suggestion. "But we really shouldn't. You never know when you'll need it."

I shrug. "I guess you're right, we need to save up that cash for emergencies." Being a Sweeper is not exactly a cheap gig. There are bills to pay for the truck (the air conditioning and heater doesn't work), and also if we get any bystanders hurt we're responsible for paying their medical bills. And trying to feed two people on a budget is rather difficult especially when there are Sven's cigarettes to buy, .01 caliber bullets for my lighter gun, bullets for the gun I inherited from Sven, and Sven's materials for inventing.

He always had a knack for creating useful, somewhat dangerous, items to help our missions. From exploding bullets to his briefcase to replace the gun he gave me. I guess that's why I like Sven; he's a gentleman, an inventor, a great cook, but he's still single, surprise surprise.

"Well, let's just try to eat something cheap." Sven said, walking down the alley way. "There's a restaurant called Stan's, it's a block from where the parade is now so let's go."

Stan's was a grill and bar. And it was filled with gangsters. The whole place smelled like grilled chicken and smoke, it made me cough into the sleeve of my black trench coat. I still wore it all this time, because I didn't dare throw it away, risking the loss of any clues to my past. It still fit, so that's good.

Sven and I sat at a window booth and looked over the menu. Ok, while we were starving, there was no way we'd order anything. The prices were outrageous; Spaghetti Plate; $19.90, Club Sandwich; $20.60, Pancakes; $22.80. Why is all this food so expensive?!

"Ok, that's just crazy." I say. "It better be some pretty damn good food or forget about it."

"Welcome to Stan's, what are you having?" A red haired waitress asked. Like most waitresses I've seen, she looked like she'd be somewhere else. Sven lit a fresh cigarette. "There's no smoking in this section." The waitress said, annoyed.

"Trust me, he won't listen." I sighed. "I've tried, uh, one black coffee and a glass of milk, please." The waitress shrugged and went to get our drinks.

"Hey, can you grab a newspaper?" Sven knew what I was planning, so he got up and grabbed us both a paper. "Thanks," I said after he handed me mine.

The reason why is not because I'm interested, but I want to see if I could see anything. Ever since I started working with Sven, I could hear or see things like how I heard a voice after I shook Sven's hand after we formed a partnership.

I'm no psychic but I get… flashbacks of certain events sometimes. Whenever I touch a person I could get flashes of memories, but only memories that had any real value, memories that only the person truly held close.

But there is the magic picture trick. I can touch a picture, and, for lack of a better word, go into it and see what was happening at the time the picture was being taken. Look around, hear what people said, but when the picture is taken, I get thrown out.

I flipped through to a random article; it was an image of a church. A cultist church was murdered in one night by an anonymous killer. Ok, I could do this. I placed my thumb over the image, and the familiar cold sensation returned.

The image was in black and white, but I saw it in color, and I saw the members get knocked out, skulls, dead people hanging from trees. And then I saw the head of the church, he had a gun under his chin, but I couldn't see was holding the gun, and then my vision began to blur white.

_"You… you're him... number 13..."_

_"I've come to deliver some bad luck."_ The pain was too much, so I backed out of the picture.

This never happened before, which was odd.

"You ok?" Sven asked. "You look pale."

"Y…yeah…" I said, pressing my palm to my forehead. I shook it off. "Yeah, I'm ok now."

"That's never happened before." Sven said. "Maybe it's related to your past, you got a headache when we met, remember?" I nodded. "We'll have to try again back at the truck."

I groaned a bit, whenever something went bump in the night, Sven wanted to know why.

The waitress returned with our drinks. "Here's your black coffee and milk." She turned to leave.

"Wait," I fished a dollar coin from my pocket and flicked it in her direction. "Tip," She caught it and smiled.

"We usually don't get tippers in here!" She said happily.

"Must be hard, having to put up with other people's bullshit." I agreed. "It's the least I can do; you should blow this town for somewhere else." The waitress gave me a look of gratitude. It must be hard, having to serve to a town filled with thugs and gangsters. Pretty girls that live in towns of gangsters aren't likely to last very long.

Sven's stomach growled again. "It sounds to me that you're a bit hungry," Then, as if on cue, my stomach growled.

"Not at all," Sven said, awkwardly. "I'm, just, on a crash diet, you know?" His stomach just growled louder.

The waitress chuckled. "Well, whatever." She looked at us with curiosity. "Where are you two from anyway?" The parade had slowed to a halt so we could see it outside the booth's window.

Sven smiled. "Wanna go ahead and take a guess?"

"Well, you don't look like a tourist. So I'm guessing you're here to make a few bucks out of the new governor like those fools over there." She gestured towards the bar.

We looked and saw sorry looking men taking up most of the bar area.

"Fools, huh?" I asked.

"Ever since the election this town has been overrun by thugs looking for quick cash."

Sven looked and tilted his head. "They don't look like a very chivalrous bunch."

"What do you mean, chivalrous?" The waitress asked.

"He means polite, respectful and considerate." I say.

Sven smiled and he got a spark in his eye. "Just a nice guy,"

"Yeah…" The waitress had a sort of look that read 'okay, you guys are weird'. Sven ignored the look and took a long sip of coffee. "You try being a nice guy in this town and you'll be a dead guy before you know it. Take my word; just duck and cover. I mean, we're living in a world where people elect a gangster as their governor."

I looked back out at the cheering parade; Lib Tyrant was standing next to another woman. The two of them might as well be polar opposites. While Lib was slightly tanned with blond hair, tall and very bulky; the woman was small, had pale skin, long black hair and a delicate, feminine build. She and Lib smiled at each other, was she his wife or something? She giggled behind a hand, she looked very kind. No way could she fall for some sorry excuse for a governor like Tyrant.

From behind me I heard a different woman scream. "Get your hands off of me!" We all turned, but our waitress beat us to it.

"HEY!" She shouted, and then she threw her tray at the bar area like a Frisbee. It flew and hit some guy with blonde spikes and glasses right in the face. Our waitress growled and charged at him and his partner with a brown Mohawk. They were most likely idiots trying to grope the poor girl standing next to their table.

Sven and I tried to ignore it and go back to our drinks, but the sounds that came seconds later were more or less distracting.

"GET OUT OF HERE!" *glass shattering*

"You wanna party with me?"

"Oh yeah!"

"YOU SICK DRUNKS GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF ME!" *table falls over*

"But that's where my hand's supposed to be!"

"AHHHHH!"

"YOU THINK YOU CAN TAKE ME ON?! LET'S GO THEN!" *glass shatters*

"LET GO!"

"You are sexy when you're angry!"

"JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"YOU'VE JUST CROSSED THE LINE!" *chair flip*

"I LOVE THIS PLACE!" Then just giggles.

I put my glass down. "Well?" Me and Sven got up, and walked to the bar area. The drunk's mouths were open so Sven flicked one red candy into the mouths of each of them.

"What's this on my tongue?" the one with the Mohawk asked.

"Suck on that candy and calm down boys." Sven said; his voice cool and controlled. He sounded like he was from an action movie. "Now, step away from the ladies." The thugs, with anger in their eyes, focused all their attention on Sven. They backed away from the girls and were face to face with Sven. "That's more like it." Sven said with a grin that could make the devil shudder. "And as a reward, I've got a few extra pieces of candy for you two." Two more candies flew into the thug's mouths.

Instantly, their faces grew red and sweat began to run down their faces.

"They're nanomachines," I said with an evil grin. "Now that they're inside your bodies their first job is to burn your insides at a thousand degrees F." The thugs fell on the floor and began rolling. I was sure they had learned their lessons but for good measures, I gave them each a good sock in the face. "Now, if you drink enough water, you _might_ be able to live long enough to get to the hospital. But you have to apologize to these nice ladies first." The thugs apologized over and over. "And after this, you two will never come back to this restaurant, or else…" I pulled out a cookie, but it looked like a button, and with the two of them so drunk they couldn't tell the difference. "If you two come back I'll kill you from the inside out, got it?" The thugs agreed and the waitress smugly gave them water. They chugged it all down in a matter of seconds and then scrambled out of the restaurant.

Sven and I sat back at the table and I ate my 'button' It was a jelly filled cookie. "We were only kidding," Sven said. "They're actually jalapeño candy made especially for me; extra, extra hot." He smiled at me. "You sure fooled them."

"Yeah, well, psychology does wonders to a person; it helps if they're drunk." I said.

Two minutes later, our waitress served us a huge plate of, well, everything on the lunch menu. "Here! Eat up! It's on the house!"

"Whoa! This spread is huge!" Sven said, amazed. "Are you serious?!"

"Of course I'm serious!" The waitress said. "You just got rid of those idiots! It's the least I can do!"

"Well, thank you." I said with a smile. "We appreciate it." The waitress nodded and left us to eat. We enjoyed the meal, it was the first decent meal we've had in weeks.

"Nice going," Sven said after eating a mouthful of burger.

"Well, me taking down idiots in restaurants kind of go hand in hand." I say, referring to the time we first met and I took down four guys in the bar.

"Speaking of which," Sven looked excited. "After we get through with this job, I was hoping that the two of us could go back up to the place where we met."

I swallowed some spaghetti. "Are you serious?" I was amazed. The Sweeper business was not only expensive, but it was hard work. We never really took vacations.

"I'm serious." Sven said. "They're having a festival next week, and since it marks, well, a year of our partnership, I thought we should celebrate. The hideout is up there, and we might get some hints of your past so, why not?" Sven was a great man, even though it took a year, he never gave up on finding out my past.

"Well," I finished my drink of milk. "Let's do it then."

"Great," Sven cheered. "Then let's eat up and get ready for tonight, I've got a plan all ready to go, here's what I'm thinking."

While Sven explained his plan I took a look out of the window and looked back out at Lib Tyrant. But, then something caught my eye. It shouldn't be weird to see dark figures walking down the street, but I saw a dark figure, but not his face. The moment I looked at him, the sun seemed to grow dark, and the world seemed to soften until the world was silent. All I saw was him… and then my head began to throb.

My eye lids slammed shut and I pressed my palm to my head again.

"Kirsten?" Sven sounded worried. "You look pale again, something up?"

"I'm ok…" I said. "It's just, another dizzy spell." I opened my eyes and the world looked back to normal, all of the sounds were back.

"You've been having a lot of those lately." Sven said. "Could it mean something?"

"Maybe…" I said, looking back out the window. Just as I thought, the figure was gone.

"Will you be alright tomorrow?"

I snapped back to reality. "No, I'll be ok." I went back to eating. "Let's just finish up here."

Sven, reluctantly, continued to eat.

In late afternoon, when the sun was beginning to descend behind the horizon, we sat in the truck with all the windows rolled down, observing the parade as it crawled to the governor's mansion. We took notes on the guards. One guard looked like that one guy from the original Star Trek. Security was tight, and all of the important people in town were all invited to Lib Tyrant's special party to thank everyone for electing him as the governor.

"Can't grab him now, too many people," Sven said.

"So we grab him tonight." I say.

"Yeah," Sven looked at me. "Wear something nice so we fit in, ok?"

I rolled my eyes. "Easy for you to say, all you wear is a suit."

That night, I wore what nice clothes I could afford; a.k.a. A white sleeveless shirt with a black vest, a black skirt (not too long and very flexible in case we have to run or kick) black leggings under black boots (good for running) And black sleeves that were separated from the rest of the shirt. I also had my black hair tied back. Jeez, I don't know what I was thinking, dying it black.

"Well don't you look nice?" Sven complimented. He wore his suit, cleaned.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, thanks…" I took his arm and he escorted me into the governor's party.

The mansion was huge, and the auditorium was huge too. Big chandeliers hung from the ceiling and the carpet was a nice red. Velvet curtains hung from the walls and tables with white tablecloth sat around the place. There was plenty of food and wine, so that was a plus.

I started to feel self conscious for some reason. "I feel like everyone is staring at us." I muttered.

"They are staring at us, not many people bring kids to parties like this." Sven said. "Just act natural."

I awkwardly evened out my skirt. "This outfit is horrible; I should've worn something else."

"You look fine," Sven reassured me. "Look, just smile, I'll do all the talking."

I glared at him. "So you want me to act natural or do you want me to smile?"

Sven chuckled. "Just let me talk, ok?"

The audience clapped, meaning Mr. Tyrant was about to give his stupid speech. He stood on a stage back dropped by a red curtain, behind a podium, smiling.

"Good evening." Lib began. "I'm sure most of you know me by now. My name is Lib Tyrant, and I'm very pleased to be your… next… governor!" He said it like an announcer for an MLA fight. "Let me begin by saying thank you to everyone who supported me throughout this difficult campaign…" I took note of where all the guards were placed; the auditorium had a balcony surrounding the perimeter, so if needed, a person could easily shoot someone. All of the guards were placed by the stage, windows and doors.

"He's got one hell of a security…" Sven muttered. He was chewing on a turkey leg.

Then we heard glass shatter, everyone turned to look, I placed a hand over my vest pocket nonchalant, which held the lighter gun, because after seeing the guard behind us pull his gun out, I expected a shoot out. But it only turned out to be a butler who had dropped a glass of wine on the floor. The butler had a red face, suggesting that he was drunk.

He giggled. "Stupid me, too many drinks and my butterfingers come out!" his voice was slurred. Yep, he was drunk.

I put my hand down and focused back on Lib.

"Generations to come, we'll look upon this time as one of our greatest historical impacts. Today is the day that I have brought peace back to our fair city."

Sven looked tensely at Lib. "Our only chance will be when he leaves the auditorium." He whispered into my ear.

I nodded, and I noticed someone to my left. I saw a man who looked like he was in his late fifties in a suit standing next to a skinny man. They weren't acknowledging Lib nor ignoring him, no, they just were talking over wine. But what I found odd was the little girl with them.

She looked about eleven with a pale complexion, as if she hadn't been out in the sun for a long time. She had long blonde hair that fell down her back, and she had red eyes, that seemed to look right through us.

I started back, and I felt some sort of heat come off of her. I don't know why, but maybe it was the look she was giving us; dark, with no emotion behind her eyes.

We just stared at each other for a solid minute, as if we've never seen another human being before in our lives. Surely, we looked like one of those Twilight zone reruns.

Sven looked at his turkey leg, then back at the girl, and then he smiled and chuckled a bit. The girl turned her head away from us. Sven frowned.

"What an unfriendly little brat." Sven muttered.

"Hey, maybe she's not good with parties like this?" I said, defending the little girl. I couldn't blame her; I wasn't too fond of parties myself.

Then the lights went dark. What now?

"Now I'd like to take a moment and make an important announcement." Lib said. A spotlight went over the girl I saw next to Lib during the parade. "Allow me to introduce to you all; my beautiful fiancée, Johanna." The woman, or preferably, Johanna, in her pink dress, took the stage next to Lib Tyrant. "We're going to be married next month in a traditional wedding ceremony. And you're all invited to be our guests." Everyone, except Sven, me and the little girl, applauded. "I'm sure that like our love, the peace of the city will last forever!" Lib, pausing for dramatic effect, smiled big. "I can only promise you one thing…" Pause… "Lib Tyrant will _always_ be a governor for the people!" Everyone broke into another round of applause.

"She's too cute to marry a gangster." Sven said. He was about to light a fresh cigarette. But then I saw the incoming drunk butler and scrambled out of his way. Unfortunately, he had to be carrying an open bottle of red wine and he spilled it all over Sven.

"Oh… my… gosh…" I said. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah…" Sven looked annoyed, and if he wasn't a gentleman I'm sure the butler would be a dead man. Although most likely he'll get a dry cleaning bill later. "I'm going to go wash up," Sven said through gritted teeth. "You hang tight here."

I noticed Lib leaving the stage. "You could try to grab Lib with the sleep gas too." I looked at him. "I can come with you."

"I need you to keep an eye on the guards, ok?" Sven started walking away. "Call me if you get into trouble."

I didn't like it, but I agreed. So I simply waited. A butler, not drunk, offered me a glass of lemonade in a stemmed glass. I didn't drink it though, who knows if it's poisoned or not.

I checked the time; only a few more minutes until midnight. Geez, where the heck is Sven?! I looked up at a window, and my head began to throb again. No… why now? I need my wits sharp tonight. This was going to be one of the most delicate missions I've ever had yet. Then an image of a dark figure that was holding a gun flashed before my eyes. I didn't get much, but I remember seeing gold eyes, and a tattoo. Gold eyes? Were those even biologically possible? I shook it off. I needed fresh air; the auditorium was so stuffy, that if I didn't get air soon, I might pass out.

I walked to a nearby window and breathed in the fresh evening air. It was so sweet, and I closed my eyes. Why have I been getting headaches so much? I tried to piece together anything useful. I had a headache a year ago and I got a short glimpse of a cat; today, I saw that flashback of the cult church with someone saying 'I've come to deliver some bad luck' before the pain was too great. Then, I get a headache after seeing that dark figure and I see the dark figure with gold eyes. What does it all mean?

I opened my eyes and I saw Sven through another window. He had just fought off a guard, but he had used the sleep gas. Well, this was going to be harder than I thought. But Sven looked weary. Maybe, just maybe, he used his vision eye?

Sven, like me, has an odd ability called a vision eye. That's why he wears an eye patch over his left eye. Whenever he uses it, he can see a few seconds into the future, but it always leaves him wiped out later. Oh, this was SO not gonna be easy.

Sven entered the room and I walked up to him.

"Did you use your vision eye?" I asked. I took a glass of water off of a tray and offered it to him.

"Yeah, and I had to use the sleepy gas." He took a long drink. He looked wiped out, and he looked grim. "Lib Tyrant is going to be assassinated in less than two minutes."

"Oh my god." I gasped. "What are we going to do?"

"Keep an eye on Lib," Sven said. "If we don't pull off this job we'll be broke."

I nodded. "We'll take different sides of the auditorium; did anything about the assassin stick out in your mind?"

"Yeah," Sven thought back. "It was a man, and he had gold eyes."

I blinked. "I just had a dizzy spell and I saw the same thing…"

"Weird…" Sven said. "But at least golden eyes will be easy to spot. Hurry, he's only got seconds." So we split up, me taking one side of the gallery and Sven taking the other. I kept a close eye on Lib, but I tried to spot anyone with gold eyes. Worse, my head began to throb again. Come on… just hang in there… just a little bit more… I glanced around, and then I saw an open window on the second floor. The assassin was in the gallery.

_"And now, ladies and gentlemen,"_ boomed the overhead speaker. _"Let's give it up for your new governor one more time!"_ The crowd began to applaud again.

"SHIT…." I gritted.

I heard a swish of fabric behind me, so, the only thing I could do was get to Lib Tyrant first. So I ran as fast as I could towards the stage, dodging people so fast the world became a blur. But I saw the black blur of the assassin right next to me. He was fast, really fast, but I wasn't about to give up that easily.

I could hear Sven's voice as he tried to get through the crowd, but he wasn't as fast as us. Lib was taking his place at the podium. I snatched my lighter gun out of my pocket and assembled it; I was so familiar with assembling it that I didn't need to look at it. But if I shot now, the other guards would start shooting and someone innocent could get hurt. My only chance was to shoot him when he got to the stage, where I can get a clear shot.

"CHIVORLOUS NET!" Sven fired his net, but caught the butler that had spilled wine on him earlier instead of the assassin. "KIRSTEN, DON'T LET HIM GET TO LIB!" Sven cried.

"I'm on it!" I cried back. I leapt, and made it to the stage just seconds before the assassin; I clicked the bullet into place. The world seemed to move in slow motion again, and I saw the assassin behind me, so I aimed the gun at his chest.

The assassin glanced my way, his golden eyes gleaming, and my head throbbed again and my vision began to blur. No! Why now?! I saw flashes of images, people I didn't know or recognize so fast I had to fight the erg to dodge them. No… no no no no…. I couldn't pull the trigger, my hand shook so hard and I couldn't see where I was aiming anymore... no, I landed, but my foot fumbled. It's no use, I'm falling backwards now and I can't make sense of anything! Then the assassin shoved me backwards with a firm palm against my chest, and I lost my balance.

I fell backwards into a table of drinks; the table broke and fell down, glass shattering underneath me. I didn't feel any pain, but I was sure that I was bleeding. I stood up, the world didn't make any sense. It kept tossing me back and forth. People kept swooping in on me, but I couldn't hear their voices other than a high pitched ringing in my ears.

I clapped a hand over my head and stumbled to my feet. The world started to come back to reality, and I saw the assassin take down the guard behind Lib. Desperate, I ran forward, the world just coming back into focus, and everything was moving back into its normal speed. I was still hanging onto the lighter gun, but just as I was about to pull the trigger, I heard, in the softest of voices as the assassin pointed his gun to Lib's back.

"I've come to deliver some bad luck."

Before I knew it, I heard the gunfire…

The world began to blur again, and I felt so dizzy I couldn't make sense of anything. Nothing made any sense.

I turned to the crowd; everyone were still comprehending what had just happened. Then Johanna, Lib's fiancée, let out a blood curling scream as Lib's body fell to the floor, his last moments of fear frozen on his face. That set the bomb off. People began panicking.

But the world was still so blurry, I could make any sense. The world tilted too far to the left, and then the floor came to meet me. The last thing I remember seeing, was the golden eyes of the assassin…

I struggled to consciousness. I was outside, I looked up and I saw Sven. I was being carried.

"Sven?"

He looked down to my face. "Kirsten, oh thank god." He looked worried. "I thought you had fallen into a coma or something!"

"What happened?" I asked.

Sven's face fell. "Lib's dead."

I groaned. "Damn it,"

"Don't beat yourself up." Sven said as he sat me down on the ground. "Can you stand?"

I tried, I could stand. "I'm fine now, but… what happened?"

"You blacked out." Sven said. "You ok? You cut yourself pretty bad on some glass wear." I noticed the makeshift bandages around my arms, probably made from the tablecloth and my severed sleeves. Blood stained them. "Nothing serious though, and it was only your arms, but you were bleeding and I thought you…" His eyes watered, but he tried to stay strong. "I was worried… I thought you had died, you could've died…"

"I let the assassin get away." I said.

"Not entirely," Sven said, trying to cheer me up. "You pulled the trigger before you fell over, and you got him in the hand."

"I did?" I asked.

"Yeah, it didn't go in deep, he was able to pull it out, but you did shoot him. That's something to be proud of." He looked over my head. "And there's the son of a bitch now." He set me against a tree. "Wait here…" I turned and watched him, the assassin was walking away. Sven got closer. "Hey you!" I was only meters away from them.

The killer stopped.

"You… you killed him." Sven was gasping for air because of his lack of energy. "I was there to capture him alive, there was a reward." I remember Johanna's scream, and I thought of her crying over Lib's body… he was a scum bag, but he didn't have to die. "He…" Sven continued. "He was filth, but there was no need to kill him." Sven was close enough to grab his shoulder. "You think all bad people deserve a bullet through the chest?"

"Get down…" the assassin said. I heard a sound of air swishing.

"SVEN DUCK!" I cried. Sven fell to the ground as a blur of red boomerang weapons sliced through trees and back into the hand of the guard with the high-tech looking glasses.

"You scum!" He cried. "You killed Mr. Tyrant! Now it's your turn!" He threw the boomerangs again. I jumped out of the way of an approaching one, I hit the ground hard, and I felt blood seep through my bandages again and I felt the liquid roll down my arms.

Amazingly, the assassin dodged every single one of the boomerangs with ease and Sven was desperate. After a full minute of dodging the boomerangs, the assassin caught one, and only ended up with a scratch on his face. He used the boomerang to pin the guard to a tree. And then the assassin removed the high-tech glasses.

"Forget you ever saw me," The assassin said. "Are we clear?" No response, but then the assassin began to leave. But he stopped… and stood over me… quickly, I managed to sat up with my back against a tree, but I couldn't defend myself.

"Shit," I gasped. I was a goner!

"You leave her alone you son of a bitch!" Sven cried. The assassin ignored him.

The assassin dropped something at my feet, a lighter, my lighter… Then he looked right at me, his golden eyes staring holes through me… I waited for a bullet to kill me, but it never came.

"Aim better next time." He said. "It'll be more than a shove next time."

"Damn you…" I growled as I picked up the lighter.

The assassin turned around, and left.

Sven grabbed me by the shoulder. "Let's go, we need you to get real medical attention." He urged me forward, through the gates and into the truck. I sat in the back seat and Sven gunned the truck forward.

"Sven," I began. "Who was that guy?"

"I… I don't know…" Sven said. He was worried, I could tell. "What happened back at the stage? Did you see anything?"

I closed my eyes. "I saw flashes of images, and there were so many of them, it was like I was living a life that I don't remember. But they all came so fast that I can't remember anything but snapshots of what I saw."

"Did any of the images seem familiar?" Sven asked.

I shook my head. "I… just don't know… they were too fast for me to recognize them."

Sven let out a long sigh. "Well, this wasn't a very good night."

I scowled. "I should've shot him when I had the chance despite those flashes." I slammed a fist into the car seat. "Damn this stupid ability, if only I was able to control it!"

"Don't beat yourself up." Sven said. "I know what it's like to feel like you have no control. This is an extraordinary ability, and I know you have the power to control it even if it seems hard." Sven stopped the car, I guess we had arrived. He turned around and faced me. "This is the Braccio City doctor; we'll get him to look at your arms. But before we do, let's see how bad they are."

I sat up, and then I unraveled the bandages, but just like when I first woke up by the train tracks, not a single scratch was on me. I guess either I had the super human ability to heal fast, or… I just don't know…

"Just like before…" Sven said, amazed. "How do they feel?"

I moved my arms, they felt fine. "Just fine, this is so weird."

Sven scratched his head. "We should really look into this ability…"

I sighed. "But until I get some sort of lead on whom I am, we're stuck in a rock between a hard place."

"I know…" Sven sighed. We sat in silence for a few minutes. "Let's go get a drink, ok?"

"Sure," I sighed and fell back against the seat cushions. "I could use something to drink, tonight has been an absolute mess."

Sven drove us to a bar; Sven ordered a beer and I just got a soda since I'm not legally allowed to drink.

"Why the long face?" The bartender asked.

"Nothing," I said.

"I heard that Lib was just killed," the bartender started cleaning glasses with a rag. "Well, was he?" I nod. "Can't say that I'm surprised," he continued. "I mean the guy was a bastard and I kept thinking he was gonna hit the dirt, I gave him a month's top." He looked right at Sven. "Do you know who took his life?"

"No," Sven sighed. "Did you notice anything, Kirsten?"

I thought back. "I think he had gold eyes… and a tattoo." I remembered.

"What did the tattoo look like?" The bartender asked. "Do you remember?"

"I think, but I don't really know what it means."

The bartender took a notepad and pen from under the counter. "You could try drawing it?" Sven raised an eyebrow in a question. 'Well? Can you?'

I took the pen and notepad and drew what I remembered; two lines with an X and two lines next to it between the two lines.

"Here," I passed the notepad back.

The bartender took one look at it and gasped. "I can't believe it…"

"What?" Sven asked.

The bartender showed it to us. "This is the mark of the legendary assassin! You're lucky to be alive!"

"Isn't that a roman numeral?" I asked.

"Yes it is little lady," the bartender said. "That is the roman numeral for the unlucky number 13."

"13?" Sven asked.

"Yes sir," The bartender set the notepad down. "If it is indeed number thirteen, then it was none other than the assassin; Black Cat."

"Black Cat?" Sven asked.

"Don't you know who he is?" The bartender asked, shocked. "He's a legend! He's hired by the organization known as Chronos."

"I thought Chronos was a myth," I said, surprised by the briskness of the bartender. "An old tale used to scare rookie Sweepers."

"Nope," the bartender shook his head. "They're as real as you two are. And Black Cat is the most well known eraser in the world. Although his whereabouts are never known, he always appears when there is blood to be spilled. He never misses his target, and he _never_ gives mercy to the weak... he doesn't care if bystanders get in the way, he'll do _anything_ to get his mission over with, and then he disappears into the night… like a ghost."

"But that's insane!" Sven cried. "Kirsten… he approached you! And yet you're alive!"

"That's unusual," the bartender said, throwing his towel over his shoulder. "But that probably means you're goddamn lucky. But if I were you…" He looked directly into my eyes. "I'd watch the shadows… people who go head-to-head with Black Cat _never_ live to tell the tale… If he didn't kill you then, then he'll come back to finish the job."

I slammed my hands down on the bar, no way was this assassin going to kill me… if he wanted me dead, he was going to work for it... "If Black Cat has a desire to put a bullet through my chest…" I looked at both Sven and the bartender. "If I'm going to die, I'm dragging him down with me into hell…"

"Kirsten…" Sven looked worried.

"I mean it Sven," I said. "I'm not scared of this guy, and I'm not afraid to die either." I finished my soda and put the cup upside down on the counter. "I'm going to find this 'legendary assassin'. He has answers, I just know it, I mean, why else would I get so many images all at once?" I looked into his eye. "I'm going to find the truth behind this killer, even if I go down in flames trying. But if I am going to die, I want to know the truth."

"Well," Sven put a hand over my shoulder. "You're not facing this guy alone, I'm helping you."

"Uh…" the bartender was shocked at this ranting, I could tell. "Might I ask your profession? I mean, you've gotta have some sort of confidence to be saying stuff like that. So what's your profession?"

I gave the bartender a stunning grin. "We're Sweepers, and this is what we do."

Sven smiled too. "You're crazy, but that's why we're partners."

"Yeah," I slapped the payment for the drinks down on the counter. "Let's roll Sven…"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Coffee and Old Memories

Well our search went exactly nowhere; no one in Braccio City had anything to say about Black Cat. So, we just ate at Stan's, and decided to leave to the next town, it was a full day's drive.

I lay my chin over my hands and stared at the glass of water in front of me.

"You seem pretty down," our waitress from yesterday said as she served Sven coffee. "These are on me, but it's the last time."

"Thanks…" Sven said. "And the kid is down…"

"I could tell," she said. "Did you hear about the governor?"

"Yeah, we were there." I said. "How's the business?"

She grinned. "Thanks to you two, no one is bothering me or anyone else." She turned and yelled at a couple gangsters, they flinched. I grinned a little. She turned back to me. "So, what are you two going to do now?"

"We're going to the next town." Sven said. "Braccio city isn't for us."

"Sounds exciting," She said. Then she remembered something. "You really want a bounty you should hunt down the Black Samurai. His head alone would set you two up for life."

"Who's that?" Sven asked, sounding interested.

"Who's that?!" The waitress was surprised. "He's one of the most dangerous criminals around! He recently escaped jail, and he hasn't been seen in months." She turned a page in Sven's newspaper. "Until recently… they saw him in the next town over three days ago."

I looked, and a blurred picture of a person looked back at us.

"The Black Samurai… how bad is he?" I asked.

"Really bad," The waitress said. "He's a killer; about eight years ago he killed some scientist at some Space Center and was arrested, but he escaped last year." She tilted her head. "He's actually very young, about twenty four or something."

"Twenty four…" I did the math. "I'd be about eleven… and he'd be about sixteen… talk about a turn for a career…"

"Damn," Sven looked upset. "Probably a drug addict." Sven stood up. "Well, let's go Kirsten; we've got a killer to find."

"Yeah," I thought it'd be a good idea. "Thanks for the information, maybe we'll see each other one day."

"Maybe." The waitress said as we began to leave. "But you two, be careful, he's serious."

We drove all night and reached Cait Sith, a very familiar café and bar. We walked in, and the smell of cigarettes and beer filled the air. I sat down at the bar.

"Well there's a face I haven't seen in. What? Three months? I assumed that you were dead." The woman asked. She was in her early thirties, with blonde hair and a cigarette in her mouth. This woman is named Annett, she's a friend of ours, and she usually allows us to stay in her café's attic.

"It's nice to see you again," I say with a smile. "Any large bounties left?"

Annett frowned. "Sorry, but a girl your age came in here recently and took the last big one."

"Damn," Sven groaned.

"Well, do you have a bounty for… the 'Black Samurai'?" I asked, hopefully.

Annett stared at us. "The Black Samurai, are you crazy?" Annett asked. "He's an S rated criminal."

"Yeah, so?" I asked.

Annett rolled her eyes. "He'd kill a pretty little girl like you in about a minute."

"Can we see the bounty first?" Sven asked, after his stomach growled.

"Well no wonder you're so desperate." Annett reached behind the counter and handed us a Bounty poster.

The Black Samurai; that was it no other name. He had black hair tied back and dark eyes with shadows. He really did look like a killer, very scary looking. He was twenty four, and six foot two; charged for murder and thief, being hunted down by the law. I felt a chill down my spine, but I guess that's because of nerves.

"Wow, that bounty is huge; $5,000,000 for him being turned in dead, $10,000,000 for him being turned in alive!"

"Holy cow," Sven cried. "The person he killed must've been the president of that space center!"

"Nah," Annett said. "It was just some robotics scientist, the police refused to say her name though. He broke out a while ago and every cop and Sweeper whose gone after him never come back." Annett glared at Sven. "And don't you dare drag Kirsten into this bounty, she'll never survive."

Sven gave Annett a look. "I'd never drag Kirsten into that kind of job." He took the bounty and put it in his coat pocket.

"Why the hell not; I've taken down tougher guys than him!"

"Kirsten," Annett gave me a serious look. "This is a full grown killer and a thief worth a small fortune, and you're still just a kid who's lost her memories. Who is most likely going to win?"

"And… I'm a third degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and I am legally permitted to carry a concealed weapon in nine different states including this one!" I cried. "Why can't I go after him?"

"Kirsten," Sven said, he sounded… not angry… he sounded worried. "I… I think we should focus on what's in front of us first." Sven looked at the bulletin board with the bounties on it. "Grab the largest one first, then we if we can take him down, we'll talk about the Black Samurai."

"Sven!" Annett cried.

Sven glared at Annett. "I mean it Anna, Kirsten has fought tougher bastards than him, and besides, our priorities aren't with the Black Samurai; our beef is with Black Cat."

"I don't know which is more crazy, the murderer escapee or the assassin!"

I ignored their conversation and looked at the board, small bounties. The biggest one was worth $50,000- Tony Kaye.

I reached for the bounty, but a muscular hand reached over my head and snatched it first. I whipped around and saw a tall, muscular man with a full beard and long hair.

"Hey, that's _my_ bounty!" I cried.

He gave me a mocking grin. "This guy is too much for you little girl, go run along and play somewhere else."

I grinned, but I was feeling anger buck inside me. "Little girl, want to see what this little girl can do?" I heard Sven groan from behind me.

But before it got into an all out fist fight which I could most likely survive, but end up bruised. The door behind us burst open and a woman ran into my 'soon to be punching bag'.

"Someone help me!"

She had long blonde hair and blue eyes. She wore a long jacket, a very short skirt that I'm sure Daisy Duke would throw out as too trashy, knee-length boots, a red heart necklace, and a corset-like shirt that didn't exactly cover her chest, more like squeezed her breast together to make them more noticeable.

"Please! There are bad men looking for me! If they catch me I don't know what I'll do!" She pleaded.

The guy who took my bounty grinned and his face went red. I gritted my teeth; if there's one thing I hate more than assassins stealing my bounty its perverts.

"Stand aside little lady," He said. "They're no match for me."

Then about five other guys came in and beat the living shit out of him in about thirty seconds.

"You're coming with us lady!" One guy said as he grabbed the woman's arm.

"AHH HELP ME!" She cried as they pulled her outside.

"Hey, Sven," Annett cleaned a glass.

"We may be starving, but the chivalrous know no rests," Sven stood up. "Let's go rocky."

I rolled my eyes and followed Sven outside. The men were groping the poor girl. They didn't seem like 'bad guys' just assholes.

"That's enough of that, boys." Sven said, calmly. "Now, you can step back from the pretty lady, or you can force the hand of a chivalrous gentleman; me."

"Why don't you can it, geezer?!"

"You must have some kind of death wish one-eye!"  
"Yeah old man, take a hike!"

"Ooh, you've said it now." I said.

Sven hit a button on his suitcase and sprung into 'cyclone Sven fists of furry' mode.

"I'M NOT AN OLD MAN I'M A GENTLEMAN!" He started beating the shit out of them.

The woman looked at Sven with amazement. I notice one guy trying to get away, so I used a move I remembered. I grabbed his arm, and flipped him back into the fight with Sven.

Then Sven used his net (new and improved) and left the assholes in a tree. They struggled, but it would be some time before they got free.

Sven put an arm around the woman's shoulder, but it was a move of a gentleman, and led her into the bar with me right behind them. "Now that that's out of the way, why don't you join us for coffee?"

Instead of coffee, we just ate lunch, compliments of our mysterious woman, who just smiled and watched us eat. I ate slowly, but Sven wolfed down.

"I can't thank you enough, for this wonderful lunch!" Sven cried, but then stopped.

"Please, keep eating!" she said happily.

"Uh… sure…" I said. "I didn't catch your name Ms…?"

"My name is Elena!" She said. "And I can't thank you enough!"

"I believe you," I said.

"You rescued me from a horrible death!" Elena said, her big blue eyes sparkling. "You're my saviors."

"Eh…" Sven rubbed the back of his head while drinking a chocolate milkshake. "I'm just a gentleman."

"Don't be so modest," I teased. "You should be proud." I grinned and looked at Elena. "He's just being the modest Sweeper he is." I frowned. "But I don't know, those guys didn't really seem like 'bad' guys, just morons."

"They attacked me out of nowhere!" She protested. "And you two took them all down without the help of no one but your own ingenuity!"

"That's true." Sven said as he raised a cup of coffee up to his lips. "But it's nothing strange for a gentleman like me." He drank coffee.

"So what are your names?" Elena asked.

"I'm Sven, Sven Volfied, and this is Kirsten Lusk, we're just Sweepers in the trade."

"But you don't use any weapons?" Elena asked.

"Nothing that will do any prominent damage,"

While Sven talked to Elena, I looked out the window; the assholes had gotten free from the net and were walking away, with a generous amount of cash in their hands. Huh, they were paid to do this, but why?

"Sven, Kirsten, I have a question, would you be willing to do me a small favor?" Elena asked.

"Anything, what do you need?" Sven asked.

"It's my baby sister!"

"What's wrong with her?" I asked.

"She's been kidnapped, and I have no one to turn to but you!"

"I don't know…" I said, with a growing edge of suspicion in my voice. "Our business isn't exactly cheap."

Elena dug through her jacket."Will this be enough?" She threw an enormous amount of cash on the table.

I raised my eyebrows, impressed by how desperate she was. But Sven was so shocked he did that spit take you see on TV, right in Elena's face. She screamed and Sven began apologizing like crazy.

"Smooth," I snickered. I stretched and stood up. "I'm going to get some fresh air." Sven didn't notice, so I stood up and walked outside.

The town was bright, but the sun began to burn my eyes. I squinted against the sun and continued to walk forward. I didn't get far; I stumbled and ran straight into someone. I felt a strong hand on my shoulders.

"Excuse me," I said, standing upright.

"Sorry," the guy said, and hurried along. I didn't get a good look at the guy, but then I felt the cold sensation run through my nerves, and the world became black.

Then I saw a scene, through the eyes of someone I didn't know. I heard... someone singing… the lyrics weren't in English, Japanese maybe.

_"Uta o, uta ou. Daichi no uta o. Kaze o hidakou, hikari, abite. Hoshi wa, matataki, machi wa, kirameku. Fuwa Fuwa, fururin. Menai komete."_ And then I saw a woman. She had short black hair, blue eyes, and a white kimono with pink accents. She turned to us, aka the person I was seeing the world through, and smiled.

"Finders keepers," She leapt forward and grabbed a bottle of milk next to us and drank it down. "Ah," she sighed. "There's nothing like milk after a song!" she stood over us. "So are you just out here moon gazing, the crows will peck at your head if you stay out here too long? Or are you waiting for your kitty friend." She looked horrified. "Oh-no, don't tell me I drank the milk you were feeding your cat?!" She put a hand up and bowed a few times, they did that in Japan. "Please forgive me oh great kitty, I was thirsty and I wasn't thinking!" Then she turned her anger on us. "Hey wait a second this is all your fault! You should've warned me, if it weren't for me the crows would peck at your head!" We glanced behind us, and saw a lonesome crow.

She leaned over and admired something, a really tricked out pistol with the Roman numeral thirteen engraved in it. "Wow, what a beautiful pistol." She looked at our face. "So what do you do if you carry around a gun like that?"

"You're just as suspicious as I am." We said. "You have a gun too."

The girl gave a broad grin and whipped the gun out. "Ta-da, I may not look like it, but I'm a Sweeper!" We said nothing, and the girl frowned. "You don't say much do you?" We did not respond. "You know, you and me… we're… more alike than you'd think…" We were confused, the girl straightened. "I don't think your kitty friend is going to show up tonight, I hope he didn't ditch you." The girl began to leave, and then we felt a sharp pain on the top of our heads. The girl laughed. "I told you the crows would peck at your head!" Then she was gone. We rubbed our head and stared after her.

Then I felt a rush, and I was back in reality. Back in the glaring sun, outside of the café, only a second of time had passed. That was the weird thing about my 'ability', it only took a split second of real time for me to see a memory or go into pictures. I just stand in the sun for a few seconds, looking around for the guy I ran into. But there were too many people for me to pinpoint him.

"What the hell…?" I whispered, but I trailed off, my train of thought was too off course, so I just decided to go back inside.

For the remaining hours of the day, I sat in a chair in the attic of the café, contemplating what I saw. Sven sat in another chair, Annett lay casually against a wall, and Elena was taking a shower.

For some reason, I think I recognize that girl in the kimono. It's vague, but I can feel it, I know her face. I tried going over what I gathered from my broken past; I was some sort of spy or thief, and I have abilities. But where does that girl come in? I went over what I knew about the girl; she has black hair and blue eyes, she might be Japanese or a fan of Japanese culture, she loves milk and singing… and she's a Sweeper… that's it!

I turn to Annett. "Annett, about the Sweeper who took the last large bounty, the one who looked my age, who was it?"

Annett thought back. "I didn't really get a good look, but she was a girl who looked about your age."

"What did she look like?" I asked, I was desperate to find something.

"Uh…" Annett thought hard. "She had a white kimono and black hair, but that's pretty much it."

I grinned. I don't know if finding her is important, but I had a feeling that it will help me.

"What's this all about?" Sven asked. But before I could answer, the bathroom door opened and Elena stepped out of the bathroom in a bathrobe. What I found odd about this girl was the fact that even though she just got out of the shower, her hair was completely dry. Ok, maybe that isn't odd, but I have what most people call 'suspicion'. Is she wearing… a wig?

Sven cleared his throat. "Please forgive my lack of decorum, it's just been awhile since I, we've, seen that much money stacked up."

"Yeah," I glanced at the huge stack of money on a glass coffee table.

"How'd you manage to get your hands on that much cash?" Annett asked.

Elena walked over to the table. "I bled my family's bank accounts to use the money for ransom." She gave us that desperate look again. "But if you can rescue her Sven, all that money is yours for the taking!"

Why would a woman we just literally met offer us her family's money just like that? She seemed… just too desperate…

Sven lit a fresh cigarette, but didn't say anything.

"So," I began. "Do you have any leads on who it might be who kidnapped your little sister?" I asked.

Elena looked at the floor. "I have a pretty good idea who did it."

"Then why don't you go to the police?" I grabbed the cash off of the table and held it out to Elena, too many questions were piling up in my head and this woman was just too anonymous for me to trust. "Surely, they're much more qualified than us?"

"Kirsten?" Sven seemed stunned.

"I mean it Sven," I replied without looking at him. "This whole situation has been stinking like road kill ever since the first minute. I mean don't you find it the tiniest bit weird that a woman who we just barely met buys us lunch and offers a small family fortune, to save kidnapped sister, and all she has to go on us for being qualified is that we saved her from a couple of perverted assholes?"

"Kirsten's got a point there Sven," Annett agreed. "I don't like this situation."

I got up, and put the cash back in Elena's hand. "Ms. Elena, I'm sorry about your sister, but the police seem much more qualified for this kind of work. We only agreed to this work because we're running very thin on cash." I sat back in my chair. "My best advice is that you just go to the local police."

Elena looked shaken. "But the police are just no match for the monster who did this!"

"Oh really, then who is it? He sounds tough." Anna asked.

Elena's face went grave. "It's Torneo… Rudman…"

"Torneo Rudman, the weapon's dealer?" Sven asked, he had an edge in his voice.

"Yes…" Elena whispered.

Wait a second… me and Sven saw Torneo at Lib Tyrant's party… the middle-aged man with the younger man… and a little girl…

"Any idea on why a weapon's dealer would kidnap your sister?" Annett asked.

"Who knows why a gangster like that would do anything? All I can think about what he may be doing to my poor sister." Sobs racked Elena's voice. "It completely crushes me inside, I can't even sleep anymore!"

Sven discarded the cigarette in an ash tray. "Sounds to me like your sister simply caught the eye of the wrong person." He said.

Elena took deep breaths and I saw tears glittering in her eyes. "You have to be able to do something… Please Sven…"

Sven pulled on his best tough guy face. "Now… don't worry your pretty little head, that Mr. Rudman has got nothing against the likes of a cunning professional like us."

Elena straitened, hope glittering in her face. "Then you'll take the job and save my sister from him?" She got up and gave Sven a hug. "You've made Rinslett so happy!"

"What's a Rinslett?" I asked, picking up on her mistake.

"Oh, right," she twirled a finger in her hair. "That's just what I call my sister sometimes, like a nickname, you know? What I should've said is that you've made me, Elena, so happy!"

"Yeah, whatever…" I say. But in reality, that little slip up just gave me a useful hint on who this woman really is.

I stared out the window while Elena talked to Sven, and I stared up at the moon; it was hidden behind clouds. And I tried to think about the Sweeper girl, the one with the kimono.

"Annett," I said casually. "Does that Sweeper with the kimono come to the bar often?"

Annett seemed curious in why I have such an interest in that girl. "I don't really know, but she might live in town somewhere."

"Do you know her name?" I ask, hopeful.

Annett tried to think. "I think her name… um… I didn't really catch it but it sounded Japanese…" After some thinking she said, "I think her first name is Saya?"

And at that word, I felt a shock of cold rush up my spine, my head began to throb and the world began to blur. I touched my face gingerly, my nose was bleeding.

"Kirsten, are you alright?" Annett snatched a box of tissues off of the table and handed them to me.

"I… I think so…" I pressed a handful of tissues to my face. "But I think that I've heard that name somewhere… Saya…"

"Do you think that whoever Saya is, she may be connected to you, somehow?" Anna asked.

"Maybe…" I said. "But it's too early to say for sure…"

"Try thinking about it," Annett encouraged. "Maybe something will resurface…" Anna got up and sat over with Sven.

I closed my eyes and tried concentrating on 'Saya' and her face… But nothing happened.

"I don't think it worked…" I say out loud. I opened my eyes, but the world was different… the attic was gone. Sven and the others were gone. I was all alone.

I was standing in front of… of a rocket. But on further looking around, I found that I was standing in a museum, so the rocket is a fake.

"Hello!" A voice from behind me said. I turned, and I was amazed. I saw a little girl, who looked like the Sweeper, Saya…

"You're …" I heard whoever I was seeing the world through say. It might be another child, a little girl, probably the same age as the Saya lookalike.

"Yep!" the girl said with a smile. "My name is Saya Minatsuki! We're in the same class!" Saya Minatsuki… that name is becoming more familiar now… then it came to me…

Saya Minatsuki was a girl I had met in Japan… the only friend I made… I was seeing the world through my eleven year old eyes. This was the day we became friends…

"I'm sorry," I heard myself say. "But I don't recognize you…"

"It's alright!" Saya said. "You just transferred, right?"

"Right… I just transferred on Thursday…"

"Yeah, but now it's been almost a week since you came to school last." Saya looked curious. "You don't look sick though… so why did you miss school?" No response, so Saya shook it off. "So where did you come from last? You don't look like you're from around here." No response. Saya made a face. "You don't talk much do you?" She looked around at the museum. "Do you live here?"

"Yes," I said.

"Wow!" Saya was amazed. "You live in this big museum?!"

"It's not a museum…" I muttered. "This is a space center that's open to visitors…"

"That's even more amazing!" Saya said, utterly star struck. Her blue eyes glittered. "Do you get to go anywhere you want? Do you get to go inside the rockets? Where do you sleep? Do you get to talk with the astronauts? I want to know!"

"I… uh…" I stuttered.

"Oh, right, sorry, too many questions." Saya playfully put a fist to her head. "Sorry, but this is all just so cool!"

"I… guess I can show you the launch base…" I said, hesitantly.

"Really?" Saya looked excited.

"Yes, but we have to be quiet," I said. "Mom has a partner, and she doesn't like it when people interrupt her work."

"I'll be careful!" Saya promised.

I led Saya to a room with a large mirror, couches and tables.

"This is as far as we can go," I said. "This is the launch observation deck for visitors."

"Wow…" Saya looked all around, and then she pressed her face to the window. "Amazing, you can see the rocket! It's so close!" she paused. "Are those people up top astronauts?"

"Yeah… the director is planning a launch for next month…" I said.

Saya looked at us, amazed. "And you get to help?!"

"Not me; my mother is the one who gets to help. But I get to go inside the rocket…"

Saya walked me. "I'm jealous! You get to live in this huge space center and miss school!" Saya took my arm that was covered by a long sleeved shirt and eyed a vending machine that gave out drinks like soda and milk. "Do you like milk? Let's get some milk!"

We got separate bottles of milk from a vending machine, and sat on a platform overlooking the rocket.

"Where did you come from?" Saya asked.

"I… was in Europe until we came here to find out what's wrong with me…" I said quietly.

"You must not get to talk to a lot of people your age, huh?" Saya asked. I responded with a simple shake of our head. Then silence… "Why do you always wear those gloves?" Saya asked. I looked down at a pair of black gloves on my hands with gold circles marking the joints.

I remember those gloves, I hated them, but I had to wear them until I could control my abilities.

"Mom… made them…" I said. "She said that it was part of her research."

"What sort of research?" Saya asked. "But if it's top secret, you don't have to tell me."

"I'm weird…" I said sadly. "I have weird powers and it's because of them that I can't go to school or go out much. Mom says that the gloves kind of block out my abilities so that they don't work as much."

Saya tilted her head a bit. "You're not weird in a bad way; you're different in a good way!"

"There's a difference?" I asked, after taking a few sips of milk.

"Of course there's a difference," Saya said. "If you like hurting people for fun, then it's weird in a bad way, but if you have abilities that let you do cool things, then you're different in a good way. I think that you're lucky to have cool powers, you can use them to become a hero of justice!" Saya gave us a teasing look. "You think I'm crazy, right?"

"Um, no I," I cleared my throat. "I think it's a really cool idea… but isn't it dangerous, being all alone?"

"Yeah, it'll be dangerous." Saya looked at me. "So you have to help me with it!"

"W-what?" I was surprised.

"You don't want to be a hero of justice?" Saya asked.

"No, it's just that, what could I do?" I asked.

"Well, what can you do?"

"Um… I can go into pictures and see memories, but that's not very useful."

"Alright then, it's settled!" Saya stood up. "You'll be my partner in fighting justice!"

"I… will?"

"You can look in crime photos and find clues to the bad guys!" Saya said, helping me up. "Together, we'll save people and serve justice! We'll be all like martial arts… hyah!" She kicked a metal barrel and it rattled, surprised, Saya fell over, but she wasn't hurt. She burst out laughing, and I just chuckled a bit.

"I guess I'll have to be there…" I said, I could tell I was still smiling a bit. "So you don't hurt the bad guys too much…"

Saya grinned broadly. "I like you, you're fun." Saya stood up straight. "So from today onward, we're friends, ok?"

"We are?" I asked.

"Of course we are!" Saya said. "But first, I'll need to be able to call you by your first name, ok?" She held out her hand. "Is that ok?"

"It's ok, you can call me Kirsten, but… I'm not really good with talking to people…"

"Then I'll do most of the talking, ok?" Saya said with a smile that was brighter than the sun.

I placed my gloved hand in hers. "Ok…"

I felt a cold sensation run down my spine again, and then I was catapulted back into reality. I blinked several times, yes I was back, back in the attic, and only a second had passed.

I smiled; I had regained a memory, my first memory in a year. Saya Minatsuki was my childhood friend and I used to live at a space center. I was happy, maybe Saya will remember me? Maybe we were partners and we got separated? But then again, why do I have all of these fake ID's?

"I'm ready," Sven said, closing his suitcase. "You ready Kirsten?"

I stood up, expecting to feel dizzy, but I was just fine. "I'm ready," I'll tell Sven the great news later.

"I can't believe you're going." Annett said as Sven and I walked down the attic stairs to the fresh night air.

"Give me a second, ok? I need to talk to Annett." I said to Sven.

"Ok, I'll wait outside." Sven walked outside.

"Annett, it worked," I said with a smile.

"What?" Annett seemed surprised.

"I know Saya; I regained some pieces of my memories."

Annett smiled; it was a cool, calm smile. "That's great news," She looked out the bar's open door; Sven was too distracted to hear me. "I'll see if I can get in touch with this Saya girl and maybe reunite you two, maybe she'll have some answers."

"Thank you Annett," I said with a sigh of relief. I walked out the door, more serious now. "We'll be back, ok?"

"I can't believe you're really going." Annett said.

Sven responded. "As a man who lives by the code of chivalry, I cannot ignore a woman's cry for help."

"Be careful," Annett added. "I don't trust this Elena chick, there's something off about her."

"I noticed it too, Sven." I say.

"It is against my beliefs to be suspicious of a damsel in distress."

We walked a good ten feet before we heard behind us. "Sven, Kirsten wait!" Elena ran up behind us. She stopped and panted a bit.

"What the hell are you doing out here?" I asked.

"I can't let you two go alone, I'm coming with you!"

"WHAT?!" We both cried.

"I'll get so worried it I stay here, I'll go crazy!"

I glared at her. "I'll go crazy if you keep following us, just stay here!"

"I won't be a bother to you, I swear! But I have to help!" Elena insisted.

"I'm pretty sure that ship has sailed, you're bothering me now." I said. But despite it all, Elena ended up following us. Shit…


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

People like you and me

"My sister is being held inside Torneo's vacation house," Elena explained as we sat on one of Sven's many inventions; a bike that takes us up the mountain. And by up I literally mean _up_. Seriously, we sat on a bike, and Sven sat pedaling us upward.

"You mean this isn't his usual house?" Sven asked. Or more like panted. I'll give him credit for being strong enough to pedal two people upwards.

"No, but he always heads down here on the second Saturday at the end of the month," Elena replied.

"He takes a hostage to his villa on the second Saturday of each month?!" I asked. No matter how you looked at it, none of it made any sense whatsoever.

"Yeah, he does, uh, a lot of weird stuff. Like all rich people."

Sven gasped and pulled the pedaling into over-time. "Yeah," He said through gasps. "But what we're doing is pretty weird too, don't you think?"

"Yes, but there's so many guards at the entrance, this is the best way inside." Elena insisted.

"Are you freaking kidding me?" I scoffed. "How is this _safer_?" I touched the lighter gun in my black trench coat. I really needed a new gun, this one is handy, but it doesn't cause much damage. I wondered if Saya and I really are partners. Maybe, Saya seemed pretty insistent that we became partners. I still had questions (like who was with Saya on the rooftop) maybe she can answer them, and we can become partners again. But… if so… will I have to leave Sven? Sven was the first person I had met after I lost my memory and he's been my friend for a year. What if we do have to part ways? The idea makes my stomach pinch, so I decide to just focus on what's in front of me.

Sven finally managed to get us up the cliff after a few minutes of pedaling. And right away, I knew something was wrong.

"Wait, what's going on here?" Sven asked.

Elena was right about one thing; there were at least two dozen guards. But they were all on the ground, and none of them were moving.

"Are they dead?" I asked.

Sven checked the pulse of a guard. "No… he's still alive." He looked at the other guards. "It looks like they were all knocked out at the same time."

"But… how?" I wondered.

"Sven, Kirsten, over here!" Elena whispered, just loud enough for us to hear her from a few feet. "I think she's in the room above me!"

My head began to pound again; something is wrong, very wrong.

"I don't like this at all Sven…" I muttered. "Let's just hurry up, ok?" Sven nodded, and we entered the villa through a window on the first floor.

All the way up, we saw guards on the ground, unconscious, all with bruises on their faces.

"We're not alone…" I whispered. "Keep your guard up…"

We walked down a long hallway, checking every room as quietly as we could, no luck. But there was a total of ten rooms, and on the last one, we found that it was slightly open.

I peeked through, and I had to suppress a gasp. It was him; Black Cat, holding a pistol to a little girl's head, and he was slowly pulling back the trigger.

Sven saw it too, and threw the doors open with a loud bang. "Don't pull that trigger!" Sven cried.

Black Cat looked at us, but my head didn't pound this time, so that was a plus. Maybe because I saw Black Cat before, I wouldn't get a headache. I keep thinking… if Black Cat is somehow connected to my past... but even if he is, now is not the time to ask.

"Oh not you again," Black Cat said, his voice was cool and low, but he was obviously annoyed. "Get out of here-"

"Not a chance!" Sven cut him off. "I've got too many bills stacking up," I wacked him on the arm, and he straightened. "What I meant was, uh…"

I stepped in front of Sven, ready to face down the assassin until my dying breath. "Why are you pointing a gun at an innocent girl?..!" I picked up.

Elena ran up beside me. "Please stop! Don't shoot her!" She begged. "You can just walk away from this!"

Black Cat didn't look at us. "I can't, it's my job." He sounded… honest, which sent a chill down my spine.

"Huh, some job." I was practically goading him, which can either be seen as noble or psychotic, given the circumstances. "You're just a little puppet for Chronos, right? It takes a puppet to shoot a defenseless child." I spit into the darkness. "I mean… it's not like you're a free spirit or anything."

"Kirsten, don't goad him." Sven muttered.

Black Cat didn't respond to me, but I could feel that my accusation had shocked him. Then he flinched, not at my words, but at the little girl in the chair in front of him. She placed both hands on his pistol.

"Blood…" She said in a monotone voice. "I smell blood all over your hands…"

The room went quiet, no one spoke… I couldn't hear so much as breathing.

"This is the end of the road!" A new voice broke the silence like a freight train barreling through town at midnight. We all turned and saw a group of guards behind us, one of which was the man I saw at Lib Tyrant's party. "Drop your gun and put your hands over your head." With little choice, Sven lowered his brief case and we (Elena, Sven, and I) raised our hands over our heads. And Torneo Rudman walked into the room.

"Well well," He said, half chuckling, half mocking. "Look here, our guests have arrived, allow me to welcome you."

"Thanks, I feel _so_ welcome." Sven said, with sarcasm.

"You're the most dangerous guests I've had the pleasure of receiving in quite some time," Torneo said, actually sober.

"Oh yeah?" I asked, going for the same tone as Torneo while I tried to figure a way out of this mess. "Well let me assure you, the pleasure is all mine."

Torneo caught onto my tone. "You've got a hefty mouth on you kid, too bad this is the last chance you'll have to use it. I highly doubt that any of you will be walking out of here alive." His eyes had a psychotic look in them. "So if you've got last words, this is the time." And as he said that, nearly a dozen pistols clicked bullets into place.

Sven, saying nothing, knocked his brief case over on its side. What looked like any normal mistake; was really something else. There was a click, and then a bright white light filled the room. It was so blinding that I couldn't see an inch from my face.

Sven grabbed Elena and I stayed close as everyone else cried out. "We're outta here," he said. I heard Black Cat's pistol click, but Sven and I ran past him, our eyes exchanged glances for a split second in time. Then the guns began firing, and the window in front of us smashed to pieces. Sven grabbed me around the waist, and we leapt out of the window, and plummeted to the Earth below.

"OH NO WE'RE GONNA DIE!" Elena screamed.

"Do you know us at all, lady?" I yelled over the wind. Sven pressed a button on his briefcase, and a hang glider extended out. We soared over the ground with gaining speed.

"Well, now what?" I ask.

"We think of a new plan," Sven yelled over the wind.

The next morning, Sven, Elena and I sat in the room where Elena was living.

"The whole night has passed," Elena said, turning away from the window. "And they haven't sent a single guard after us." Sven set coffee on a table down for all of us, while wearing a pink apron. "Uh, Sven, what's with the pink apron?"

"It's very important to always dress for the occasion," he replied, while straightening his neck tie. "Even if it is just to brew a cup of coffee, this is just one small part of the code for a true gentleman."

"I see," Elena smiled. "And that's what you are?"

"Of course," I reply, taking a cup of coffee into my hands as Sven lit a fresh cigarette. "But then again, it's no secret that Sven is a gentleman. And it's obviously no secret that you're a fake."

"Hm?"

"You heard me, tell me what's _really_ going on." I say, taking a sip of coffee. I've never really liked coffee, but I drink if just for the buzz.

"You're not gonna sell us the 'my kid sister has been kidnapped' line anymore," Sven replied. "I mean, why would _Black Cat_ target someone like your innocent sister?" Sven chuckled. "I mean, just considering it makes me laugh."

"I knew this was baloney the second you said she was kidnapped by Torneo." I say. "Are we getting warm yet?"

"Rinslett Walker, my fair thief?" Sven finished.

Elena, or more like, Rinslett, said nothing. She just stared at us. "Ugh, fine, I was sick of this wig anyway." She reached for her long blonde wig, and pulled it off, revealing short, purple hair. "I gotta say, you did well for a former International Bureau of Investigations officer and some kid who lost her memories."

Rinslett Walker is a thief that I actually know about. She's incredibly smart and resourceful. She's pulled off all sorts of crazy stunts, and she's very successful. But the real million dollar question is why she'd ask, well, _us_, a couple of broke Sweepers, to break into an arm's dealer's villa. And what is with that little girl?

"Hmph," I frown. "So are you going to tell us the real deal now? Why could a little girl be so valuable that the great Rinslett Walker would go so far as to pull off a stunt like this? I'm getting tired of half-baked answers."

Rinslett sighed, and stood up. "That girl…" She looked at us with a look so serious, so grim that I shuttered inside. "She's the world's most foremost bioweapon."

I blink. A… bioweapon, that sounds crazier than the whole kid sister scenario.

"Now how is she a bioweapon?" Sven asked.

"Have you ever heard of nanotechnology?" Rinslett asked us.

Sven took the cigarette out of his mouth. "Yeah, I know a little bit."

I shrug, Sven pretended that his jalapeño candy was nanomachines, but I don't have a clue on what they are. "I'm completely clueless… so please explain."

"It's based on the employment of nanomachines; microscopic robots smaller than the tip of a needle point." Rinslett explained. "Like most technologic advances; these nanomachines were designed with the best intentions. Scientist thought they could use these things to restructure a person's DNA or create new tissue with rapid cell repair. But…" She trailed off.

"I hate to interrupt this little biology lesson," I say. "But what does any of this nanomachines stuff have to do with Torneo Rudman?" I set my coffee cup down. "I mean, last time I checked, he's an arms dealer. How could he get his hands on something so powerful?" I tilt my head. "Because to me, it's highly doubtable that the Science Community would just sell these little robots to anyone."

"Good observation there," Rinslett said with a smile. "Are you two father and daughter?"

Sven coughed a bit. "No, but she's like my daughter. And as a gentleman, I couldn't leave her alone." I looked at him with amazement; I always thought that I had just been his partner. He straightened. "But, please continue."

"Right," Rinslett grew serious again. "There was a story a few years back about a military facility that was destroyed. I'm sure you've heard about that, right?"

"Yeah, I remember reading an old article about that." I recalled a dry read once. "It was a terrible accident, an explosives warehouse was destroyed. It… just blew up out of nowhere." I felt the room go cold when I touched the picture of the article, and saw the site, still smoking, and the scent of decay stung my nose. "More than ten million people were killed. It's the kind of thing, you just can't simply forget about." My head pounded a bit, and I felt my nose bleed a bit. "Damn," I whispered, cleaning the blood.

"What if it wasn't an accident?" Rinslett's voice was somber. Sven and I straightened.

"What are you saying?" Sven sounded shaken.

"The facility was ordered destroyed by Torneo Rudman." She said. "He used the tragedy as a cover to steal the data they kept there, concerning nanotechnology. Now he plans to sell his nano creations as military weapons to the highest bidder."

"But that's insane!" Sven cried. "Thousands of people had to die so this monster could make a few bucks?!"

"That bastard…" I gasp. The idea of anyone doing something so incredibly evil was unbelievable. That was worse than Black Cat. I mean, he wouldn't blow up a facility right? He only goes after one target. He honestly didn't really look like an assassin; he looked more like a teenager with old clothes.

Sven realized it suddenly. "But, that would mean that the girl back there!"

"Correct," Rinslett confirmed what we were already thinking. "She's engineered from stolen secrets to become the world's foremost bioweapon."

I think of the girl; her eyes were practically red, and the way she showed no fear towards being held at gunpoint. I'll say one thing for Torneo; he sure does know how to create an unsuspecting weapon. But… what does she do exactly? What does a bioweapon do?

"So, your plan was to bust in and steal back the technology Torneo stole first." Sven took a sip of coffee.

Suddenly the cool, confident Rinslett disappeared and suddenly the girl who hugged Sven for agreeing to go after the girl came forward. "Yeah, I return to the military what Torneo stole from them and they'll be so happy I'll get a mountain of cash as a reward and maybe even a parade to celebrate my greatness!" She said. "So, it's not such a bad plan after all huh?" she gave a wink.

We were stunned for a moment, and then Sven stood up. "Whatever you say, let's roll Kirsten."

"Wait, I need you! Where are you going?" Rinslett asked.

Sven threw his apron over a chair and retrieved his hat. "Out for some cigarettes, we'll be back." We closed the door behind us.

"Ugh," I groan as I followed Sven down the hall. "Do we really have to go after this bioweapon when we're obviously not gonna get anything out of this?"

"We already accepted her payment," Sven reminded me. "And that's our job as Sweepers."

"Great," I mutter. "We hold up our Sweeper name until the day we die."

"Exactly," Sven remarked. "Now let's go get some fresh air."

We ended up buying cigarettes, chatting with neighbors and just enjoying the day. In early afternoon, we were sitting in the park on a bench. Sven finished a candy bar, crumpled it and threw it to a nearby trash can. It bounced off the lid and fell to the ground.

"Walk of shame," I chuckle as I crumpled my own wrapper. We got up and threw away our garbage. Suddenly, Sven tapped me on the shoulder. "What?" I ask. He jerked his head, gesturing to something to his left. I looked and saw a pale little girl with long blonde hair and red eyes, wearing a black dress, black tights, and black shoes, observing white pigeons.

Recognition snapped into my head, and Rinslett's words echoed in my head.

_She's the world's foremost bioweapon._

"Well that was easy…" I whisper. "Let's try to grab her."

"Yeah, but we have to be careful." Sven whispered back. "We don't know what she's capable of, and we don't want to die yet."

We slowly, quietly inched our ways behind the little girl. But when we were within arm's length, the girl slowly turned around and looked right at us.

We faltered, and Sven dropped his cigarette. We took a step back.

"Who are you?" The girl asked.

"Who are we?!" Sven cried.

"Yes,"

"We're the-" Sven stopped. It dawned on me that she didn't recognize us. She just turned back to observing the birds. Sven cleared his throat. "Say, what are you doing our here all by yourself, young lady?" he asked, nonchalant.

"I…" the girl didn't look at us. "I am a demon… a demon…" she reached down to the birds, but they all flew away in a frenzy of feathers. We didn't respond, we just watched the girl watch the birds fly away.

"Uh…" I coughed a bit. "Do you want to sit on the bench with us?"

The girl didn't respond, but she got up and walked over to our bench.

If this was indeed the world's foremost bioweapon, she wasn't what I was expecting. She isn't particularly scary, and she was oddly calm for a weapon. But the burning question was why the world's foremost bioweapon is here, at a park, watching birds? I glanced around, there didn't seem to be any guards or security cameras watching.

"You gonna tell us why you're so far away from where you're from?" I ask.

"Could…" She looked at us. "Could you tell me… where I am?"

"Why, are you lost or something?" Sven asked. A lost weapon… that's new.

"Lost…" She looked down at her hands. "No… I am simply… a demon searching..."

"Searching?"

"Yes… I am a demon… this is a game… I must capture my target… or it will never end… this is a demon chase…" she replied, with no change in tone.

"Demon chase?" I echo. Demon chase, that's another name for that game called tag. The idea of a weapon thinking that the whole thing is a game sent a shudder through my body.

Sven chuckled, and then burst out laughing. Poor guy, he's so nervous.

"Why are you laughing like that?" The girl asked.

Sven shut up instantly. Come on Sven, play it cool.

"I'm laughing because…" He began, just as a pigeon hopped by. "I… love pigeons!" he cried. "They're such cute little animals, you know? I can't help but laugh!"

"Will you feed them?" the girl asked. Sven faltered, and then frantically searched his pockets.

"We must've run out of birdseed when we were feeding them earlier, right Kirsten?" Sven asked.

"Yeah…" I follow along.

"I see…" the girl seemed disappointed, a lump formed in my throat.

"Hmm…" Sven spotted an ice cream stand. "If you two wait here, I'll get us a treat!" He ran off, and a few moments later, he returned with three ice cream cones. "Ice cream!" He had mint, I had peach, and the girl got strawberry.

The girl took the cone. "What about the birds?" she asked.

"We feed ourselves, and then the birds." I say, taking a huge lick. The sweetness of the peaches and texture of the ice cream complimented each other very nicely.

The girl took a tentative lick, and then her face lit up in surprise. "I've… never tasted anything so cold and sweet."

"And the stuff melts right in your mouth, too!" Sven chimed. "It's the perfect snack for such a warm day in the park!" The girl didn't seem to be listening; she was licking the ice cream, getting the stuff all over her mouth.

Sven took a handkerchief out of her pocket and offered it to the girl. "You might want to wipe your mouth." The girl took the handkerchief and wiped her mouth off.

I sat back and took more licks. The more time I spend with this kid, the more the image of the scary of her being a weapon diminishes.

"Ice cream…" she said. "Is very good…" she continued to lick the ice cream cone.

"You know…" I begin. "There's more food to get excited over, not just a strawberry ice cream."

"What sorts of food?" the girl asked.

"There's tons of food, deserts and drinks, you'll love it!" Sven said.

"What are your favorites?" the girl asked.

Sven stood up. "There's steak, coffee, cigarettes, and beer-" he stopped abruptly. "But, those are just my personal favorites." He sat down. "There's also chocolate, tiramisu, tapioca pudding, cheese cake-" he stopped again. "I should probably be recommending healthier foods…"

"Yeah…" I smile.

"What about you?" the girl asked me.

"Uh…" I think. "I'm not really picky when it comes to food, but some of my favorites are milk tea, seafood hot pot, dango, and… oh, and French macaroons!"

"What are those?" the girl asked.

"They're cookies," I say. "They look like tiny colorful hamburgers. Sven got me a few on my birthday last year. They were really sweet, but not too sweet." I smile at the memory. "Sven is truly a gentleman."

Sven chuckled.

"There's so many to choose from…" the girl said, sort of wistfully. "There's… so much I don't know about the outside world…"

Ok, the whole idea of this girl being a weapon vanished right at that statement. She seems more like a sheltered little girl, who was kept away from the good things in the world.

Sven finished off the ice cream part of the ice cream cone, and then crushed the cone in his hands. "Watch this," then he flung the cone crumbs in the air. "Come and get it!" a flurry of pigeons hopped over and started pecking at the ground where the crumbs landed.

The girl looked at her cone, broke off a piece, and then threw it on the ground in front of her. A pigeon hopped over and pecked at the crumb. The girl gasped a little, and then for the first time, she smiled.

"Hey," I begin. "What do you say we go get some good food together?"

"What sort of good food?" she asked.

"There's a whole world of good food, you'll love it!" Sven said.

"Of course, there's spaghetti, pizza, not to mention burgers." I say. By her face, she imagined some sort of food that sat on a cone.

"You… you promise you'll take me… to go get some good food?" she asked.

"We promise," Sven held out his pinky.

"Promise?" the girl, tentatively made the pinky promise.

"Absolutely," I get included in that promise too. "My name is Kirsten, and this is Sven. What's your name?"

"My name…" she began. "My name… is Eve..." Eve… that name suited her. It means… innocent… but I wish that I didn't ask that, now that I know her name… how will I say goodbye?

"Hey, I think one of the stands back there sold hot dogs," Sven got up. "Wait here and we'll go check it out." I follow Sven to the hot dog stand. I turned back, and saw Eve feeding the pigeons. "Now, do you think she'll like a hot dog or a…"

"Sven," I begin, my voice cracked. "How are we going to turn her, I mean, Eve, in? I mean, if we turn Eve into Rinslett, who knows? She'll most likely be taken to a government lab."

"I know…" Sven said softly. I know for a fact that you're not supposed to get emotionally involved in a mission, but sometimes… you just can't help it.

"I guess…" and I hated to admit it. "When it's time to say goodbye… we make it fast… and don't look back…" That statement caused a pang in my heart. I turned back to face Eve, expecting to see that same smiling girl. But instead, I saw a blur of birds, and a man grab Eve's wrist. It was the security guard from Torneo's mansion.

"You're coming with me, Eve!" He said.

I broke into a run with Sven right behind us. "Let go of her!" I cried. Two other guards shot warning bullets at us, so we hit the dirt. When I looked up, I saw Eve in a black car, not looking at us. The door slammed shut, and the car began driving away.

"Get back here!" Sven cried. We scrambled to our feet and broke into a run. But that car was too fast.

"Shit…" I gasp. I crouched over and gasped for air. "They… got away… we couldn't…" I bared my teeth and looked at the car as it drove away. "They won't get away with this…" I was about to run again, but Sven grabbed me by the back of the collar.

"We're in no condition to go after them now," he panted. "We have to regroup and think of a plan!" I was about to protest, but the Sven interrupted. "I want to save Eve just as much as you do, and even if we do manage to save her, Torneo will keep coming after us with god knows what?" He had a point.

I gave a shaky sigh. "Ok… let's hurry…"

"YOU RAN INTO EVE AT THE CITY PARK?!" Rinslett exclaimed when we got back. "AND YOU SPENT THE WHOLE AFTERNOON WITH HER?! AND THE GUARDS JUST GRABBED HER IN BROAD DAYLIGHT?!"

"Yes, that's exactly what happened." I say as I loaded bullets into my gun and pockets. Along with a switchblade I got a year ago.

"Why didn't you grab her then and there?" Rinslett demanded. "You could've called me!"

"We didn't grab her…" Sven clicked his briefcase shut. "…because she isn't anything like a weapon. She's just a sheltered little girl who's been kept away from everything good in the world."

"And as Sweepers," I hide the switchblade in my right boot. "We can't turn our backs on children. Eve may have those nanomachines in her body, but if they're used correctly… they can be something good."

"But how are you going to get Eve out of the mansion?!" Rinslett cried.

"It's simple really," Sven explained. "Kirsten and I will create a diversion, so Torneo will most likely send Eve."

"And that's when we'll save our girl." I finish.

"_That's_ your plan?!" Rinslett cried. "But what if your _brilliant _plan doesn't work?!"

"It'll work," Sven got up. "Besides, we've got an ace up our sleeves." He looked right at Rinslett. "If it comes to that, I'll use both of my eyes."

"What?"

"My right eye can see a few seconds into the future." Sven said. "It'll be risky though, but it's a last resort."

"THAT'S IT?!" Rinslett cried.

"You underestimate us too easily," I say. "We're Sweepers, and this is what we do."

"Then I'm going with you two!" Rinslett started following us.

"Sure," I whip around and look her dead in the eyes. "But on one condition,"

"What?"

"When we save Eve," I start. "You return the technology, but Eve is to be treated like a normal girl."

There was a heavy silence.

"What?" Rinslett asked.

"Despite Eve being a bioweapon, she's still a little girl." I say. "And if you are going to return her to the government, she will not be experimented on. She will be taught to use her powers for good, and she should be raised like a human. Surrounded by real people, not machines, and she should be allowed to make friends, see things and experience everything a kid should…" I looked at the floor, because the way I made those remarks, I thought of Saya, the only friend I had… I felt trapped…. "If we are going to say goodbye to Eve forever, me and Sven have to keep a promise to her. And I want to make sure that she lives a happy life."

No one responded for a very long time.

"I see…" Sven said, quietly. "And you're right."

"I guess so," I look back at Rinslett. "And if you don't agree to this, I'll see you as an enemy."

Rinslett looked at my face. "I promise, she'll live like how any other kid should…" She smiled. "It was never a question."

I smile, just a bit. "Thank you…"

"Well," Sven tilted his hat a bit. "What are we waiting for? We've got a girl to save, and a promise to keep."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

A Different Animal

Rinslett sat in a tree, observing Torneo's mansion and security system. She gave a half-hearted groan. She slid down and ran towards us.

"Well, what did you see up there?" Sven asked.

"There are ten guards spread all over the grounds," She stopped in front of us. "And a grid work of lasers, they're mounted on top of all the gates." She sighed. "It's the best security system I've ever seen." She gave us a questioning look. "You know, I really don't see how there's any way to get inside this place unnoticed."

"No sweat," Sven fished through his jacket. "We're just gonna walk right in through the front gate."

Rinslett scoffed. "And _how_ are we going to do that?"

Sven knelt down and placed a red ball with a fuse and a picture of a cat, on the ground. (Sven drew that, but there's one of those that kind of looks like Sven, I drew that one). He took out his lighter and clicked it a few times.

"What is that little thing going to do?" Rinslett asked as Sven lit the fuse. He tossed it in front of the gate and a puff of smoke shot out.

"Okay…" Rinslett looked at us. "Is it going to explode or what?"

"I think blowing up a wall might get us noticed." I say. Suddenly, three cats walked over, meowing. They pawed at the ball.

"And..?" Rinslett questioned us.

"Uh…" Sven's face fell.

"I think we'll need a few more, Sven." I say.

With determination guiding every move, Sven lit fifteen more of the balls and threw them. And in a matter of seconds, meowing filled our ears.

"What the…?" Rinslett looked around. We were surrounded by a sea of cats. "What did you just throw out there?!"

"My cat luring grenades," Sven replied. "And they work like a charm."

"It's basically catnip, fish and everything cats love." I say as a white cat with a face much like the grenades gave a huge meow.

Then the cats broke out into a series of orchestrated meows, and then in a matter of seconds, two guards opened the gates and gaped in shock.

"What's with all these cats?"

"Who cares, just get them out of here! Shoo cats!"

And while they were distracted, Rinslett, Sven and I stormed the gates.

"Let's make this quick!" Sven cried as he punched a guard in the stomach.

"This is insane!" Rinslett cried as she kicked down a guard.

"Well, that pretty much sums us up!" I cried as I hit a guard in the face with my elbow.

We got a good two and a half yards into the grounds, and then a black blur passed us, it was Black Cat.

"Oh no not him again…!" Sven cried.

"I guess your little ball things called out to every feline around, including Black Cat!" Rinslett cried.

"That's just his name!" I cried, annoyed. "Just keep running!" We picked up the pace, but that was nothing compared to Black Cat's speed and agility. He took out every guard with the back of his gun, while deflecting bullets with it. Holy crap, he's good.

I can't let him get to Eve before we do… I thought. But if he's as good as they say he is, this guy won't fail the same mission twice.

We ran as fast as we could, but I could hear Rinslett panting behind me and Sven.

"You two try and stop Black Cat," she gasped. "I'm going to go see where they've hidden the nanotech data!"

"Got it…!" Sven said. We split up, Rinslett headed down the basement and we followed Black Cat upstairs. "Be careful, Rinslett!"

"I'm always careful!" She said before we split up.

We stood close on Black Cat's heels, but the guy was crazy fast, not to mention calculating. He was able to shoot out every security camera, and take down every guard he came in contact with, and he still managed to check every room for Eve.

My lungs burned, and my legs ached. I can't keep up with Black Cat forever; I mean, we can run at the same speed, but there's no way I'll be able to run at Black Cat speed forever.

"Sven," I panted. "There's no way we'll be able to get ahead of this guy! Every step we take, he takes five!"

We can't let him get to Eve first… because if that happens… Eve… she'll be… she'll be… she'll be killed…

"Kirsten, I have no choice but to use my right eye…" Sven panted.

I looked ahead at Black Cat, there's no way we'll get to Eve first if we keep going like this.

"Go for it…" I say. "For Eve…"

Sven removed his eye patch, and the green eye looked into the future.

"Go up the next flight of stairs on the right," Sven said soft enough so Black Cat wouldn't over hear us.

We ran up the next flight of stairs on the rights, and I followed Sven down a series of halls and finally to a room on the end of the hall. We burst through the doors, and I fired a bullet at the security cameras. Then we both fell back against the wall, gasping for breath. My lungs ached, and my legs felt like rubber.

The room we were in had to be Eve's bedroom, because there was only the bed, which Eve was sitting on. Jeez, when Eve said she was a demon, I now know why. The walls were painted in abstracting colors and designs of black cats, screaming people, and demons. Looking at them gave me a headache. One demon that really stood out was a demon with silver claws and teeth, they looked like they could diffidently do damage. It seemed to glow red…

After a minute of regaining composure, I looked up at Eve's face. "Hey, nice weather we're having, right?" I say with sarcasm.

"It's you…" Eve said.

"It's us…" I finally stand up and Sven puts his eye patch back on. I walk over to the bed and sit next to Eve and look at her face. Two things stand out; one was the flower on her dress, and second was that her left cheek was red, as if she was slapped. "Did Torneo slap you?" I ask. Eve didn't respond. "For god's sake…" I mutter. Torneo is such a douche.

Sven got up. "So, you ready Eve?" he walked over to us. "Let's go," Eve looked at Sven with a questioning eye. "We promised you something," he pulled a jawbreaker out of his coat and removed the wrapper. "We promised you that we'd go eat some good food." He popped the jawbreaker into Eve's mouth. She seemed surprised, and then she started sucking on it.

"Like it?" I ask. "It tastes pretty sweet, doesn't it? It's candy. You… like?" Eve really didn't seem to acknowledge Sven; she seemed much more interested in the jawbreaker. Sven chuckled, but that died almost instantly. "Alright Eve, come on!" He regained his composure. "Time for you to enjoy the great food the world has waiting!" Still nothing, the candy was still more interesting to Eve.

"Yeah…" I rub the back of my head. "We've kind of gotta do this fast…" Eve tasted the candy for a few seconds, and then I heard a gulp, and her face went a blue-ish color.

Sven flipped out and shook Eve, while screaming. It was rather funny, and I would've laughed if I was stupid. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING? NOOOOOOOOO!" He stopped when Eve showed that she didn't swallow it. Both of them sat down on the bed again. "That's a jawbreaker, just so you know; you can choke on it if you swallow it whole. So that's why I freaked out." A bead of sweat rolled down Sven's face, so Eve pressed a really dirty handkerchief to Sven's face. "Whoa whoa what are you doing? Get that thing off my face!" Eve pulled away, Sven's face was covered in dust and god knows what else. But I got a good look at the handkerchief, it looked familiar.

"Isn't that your handkerchief?" I ask Sven. I tried to remember. He gave it to Eve at the park; she used it to wipe her mouth after eating the ice cream, and now its here, hours later, unwashed. Eve brought the handkerchief to Sven's face again. "Uh…"

"OH GROSS! GET THAT OFF MY FACE, WHO KNOWS HOW MANY GERMS IT'S CARRYING!" He cried. And I laughed, I couldn't help it.

"Well," I start to stand up. "We should get to the truck and wait for Rinslett-"

Eve's face grew serious. "He is here."

Before I could ask Eve who she was talking about, a shadow appeared in the window behind us. Black Cat. I turned, and then the glass shattered and Black Cat leapt in. Eve leapt off the bed and in front of Black Cat.

"Eve, begin, this is the start of the demon chase." Torneo's voice came from the flower on Eve's dress. Black Cat aimed his gun, but then Eve's had started reacting. It glowed, and then faster than Sven could say "EVE, NO!" Her hand grew and morphed until it was little less than an inch away from Black Cat's face. Only it wasn't a hand anymore, it was knife as long as Black Cat's arm and as big as those swords from Final Fantasy.

"I smell blood on your hands… I smell blood on your hands… I smell blood on your hands… I am a demon… I am a demon… I am a demon…" Eve repeated, as if she were in a trance.

"Shit…" I gasped. Rinslett's words echoed in my head; _She' the worlds' foremost bioweapon. _But when Rinslett said bioweapon, I had no idea that this is what she meant. The whole thing is unreal, I've only heard about shape shifting humanoids in science-fiction novels. But this was real, this was real… and it was scary as hell. Black Cat still had his poker face on, but I could sense the shock of the situation he was thinking. I don't blame him; I was so shocked that I couldn't pull my gun out.

"This is not good…" Sven said in a quiet, urgent voice.

"Do it Eve!" Torneo's voice ordered. "You are the demon, eliminate Black Cat!"

Eve stared at Black Cat with regretful eyes, she didn't want to kill Black Cat, I could tell. "I am the demon… you are prey…" Oh god, she was going to kill him, but why?! Because… because she thinks she's a demon… a monster… my memory of Saya came to mind… I had said that I was weird… but someone saved me…. She said I wasn't weird in a bad way, but I was different… in a good way… as long as you use your powers for good…

"Don't listen to him; you're not a demon Eve!" Sven snapped out of his shock and cried.

Eve's eyes watered with fear, and regret.

"Stop standing around!" Torneo barked. "Kill Black Cat, now!" he ordered.

"Can it Torneo!" Sven cried. "I'm not going to let you use this girl for murder!"

Torneo laughed. "I know that voice, sounds like the rats came in with the cat!"

"I'm no rat!" Sven cried. "I'm a Sweeper and a gentleman!"

"Sweeper..?" Black Cat muttered. I looked at him with surprise, did he know a Sweeper? Now's not the time to think this!

"Eve…" Sven took a few steps towards her, slowly. "Let us keep our promise to you, let's go eat…"

"Something good…?" Eve finished. I saw the jawbreaker shift in her mouth. The knife hand glowed blue, and then it morphed and shrank back into Eve's hand.

"I can't let that happen…" Black Cat said. "The girl has to die here, today, no matter what."

Sven gritted his teeth. "You do everything your master tells you to do, like a good dog."

Black Cat's face hardened. "It's my job, and you know what she's capable of."

"So you'll kill children in the blink of an eye." Sven tilted his hat and I saw Black Cat slowly begin to pull the trigger back. "Huh, seems like Chronos, and everyone who works for them are nothing but SCUM!" He lunged forward and punched Black Cat right in the jaw. Sven grabbed Eve by the arm. "Let's go!" All three of us ran for the door while Black Cat regained his feet. But when we opened the doors, Torneo stood right in front of us, and his face could make the devil shutter.

Sven and I cried out in surprise and leapt back.

"Now Eve," Torneo gave Eve a hard look. "What are you doing? You were supposed to kill Black Cat!"

"Oh shut the hell up you fat bastard!" I cried. "She's not some mindless marionette for you to play with, she's a little girl and she can go free!"

"Little girl?" Torneo laughed. It was a hard sound that stood out of place in the room. "She's a weapon; she's been a weapon since the day she was born! She follows my command without any hesitation, until now. But once you two and Black Cat are dead, she'll be the perfect bioweapon."

"Oh for god sake," I spit. "She's just as human as me and Sven are! We all have the right to live our own lives by our own accord. And scum like you has no right to control it!" I shake my head in disgust. "Humans have the rights to have freedom, and be our own masters." I glare at him. "And I know for a fact that Eve has that right too. She's no monster, if anyone here is a monster, it's you!"

"I…" Eve said. "I don't understand… this word 'freedom'…"

I turn to face her. "It means you can do whatever you want."

Eve thought about it. "I can do… whatever I want?"

"Anything," I say.

"I don't… have to kill anyone?" She asks.

"You don't have to kill anyone…" I agree.

"Then…" She looked at me with eyes filled with hope. "I want freedom too…" She grabbed Sven's sleeve and clung to him.

"I see…" Torneo said, anger bubbling. "You plan on running away with these filthy rats?"

Eve nodded, and Sven grinned.

"Wise choice," I rub Eve's head.

"Very well…" Torneo snapped his fingers, and then guards came out of nowhere, restraining me and Sven and holding Eve down. "You don't think I'd just let you go right? I've invested millions of dollars into your research. Flint," Torneo faced the blonde guard.

"Sir?" Flint asked.

"What are you waiting for? Do it! The NS amplifying oscillator, now!" he ordered.

Flint looked shaken. "B-but-" Torneo gave Flint a cold glare that could've frozen hell itself. Flint gritted his teeth, pulled out a silver card about the size of his palm, and then shoved it on Eve's chest.

Eve bit down hard on the jawbreaker, breaking it into pieces as a blue light consumed her body. She cried out in pain and screamed. Even Black Cat was shocked.

"Stop, what are you doing to her?!" Sven cried as he struggled against the choke hold of one of the guards.

Torneo chuckled. "That card causes the nanomachines in Eve's body to work in frenzy, slowing down her brain activity, and leaving her in a trance-like state so she'll obediently obey my every command!"

"No!" I scream and fight against the choke hold. "You can't do this to her!" Eve's screams of pain continued, and I could feel them right to my bones. I felt like I was going to be sick.

Then the light faded away, and Eve slumped to the ground.

"Eve, now, kill the Black Cat!" Torneo ordered.

Eve got up… but it wasn't Eve… she was a completely different animal… Her body gave off a white glow, and her hair was in a frenzied mess that hardened to steel at the ends. She moved at a speed equal to Black Cat and leapt just as high. Her hands morphed into blades, razor-like.

But that wasn't what scared me, what scared me most was her eyes. The red irises were unnaturally big and her pupils were dilated, and there was no trace of the little girl we met at the summer villa, who had never seen an ice cream cone before, and who smiled so softly when she fed the birds… the girl who wanted freedom, just a minute ago… all that was left was a creature I've never seen before… no, I've seen something like it. I looked and saw the picture painted on the wall of the abstract demon that seemed to glow red… a demon…

"DON'T DO IT EVE!" Sven cried. But it was no use, Eve slashed wildly at Black Cat, who barely was able to dodge the attacks.

"Don't let him escape!" Torneo encouraged.

Black Cat leapt out of the window he came in from, but Eve leaped after him. The guards released us and circled us, drawing their guns. With no choice, we raised our arms in surrender.

"Flint," Torneo said. "The briefcase," Flint took Sven's briefcase. "You won't be needing this anymore." He glared at me. "Pat her down," They found my lighter, but not the switchblade I hid. Torneo looked at the lighter and frowned. "I could've sworn this was a gun, but it doesn't matter." He tossed it to another guard, and Sven glared at Torneo. "Risking your life, coming all this way just to save that girl, you're quite brave for a Sweeper. You must tell me why you did it."

"You first," Sven threw back. "Why did you do what you did to her?"

Torneo glanced over his shoulder at Sven."Well, well, quite a mouth you have on you there." He faced the window again. "Eve is a product, a result of my research; she belongs to me like everything else in this place." He paused, probably for effect. "She may look like a human, but she is a weapon."

"And you're slowly turning her into a monster." Sven accused.

Torneo laughed again. "Are you _that_ ignorant?" He looked over his shoulder at us again. "She's never been anything _but_ a monster." I growled at him. "Enough of this chitchat, it's time you disappeared. I'm sick of your pious attitude." I felt sweat roll down my face, is this how we're really going to die? No… this can't be the end… but only a miracle can save us now.

Suddenly, there was a squeaking sound that came from underneath us. I glanced down, and I saw a trap door open. No, more like a vent. Rinslett came out and gave a sigh of relief. She blinked away stars and stared up at us. "What are you doing there?" She looked around. "And… uh… where am I?" Realization caused her to freak. "I THINK I TOOK I WRONG TURN IN THE VENT!" she cried. Well, wish granted. Flint turned to face Rinslett.

"Who's that-" he started to ask.

Taking this opportunity into action, Sven took a coin from his pocket and flicked it hard at Flint's hand. He cried out and dropped the brief case. In the moonlight, I saw a thin wire attached to the handle, Sven jerked the wire and the brief case came back to him. While that was going on, I whipped out the switchblade and stuck it into the leg of the guard holding my lighter. He cried out in pain and dropped it. I snatched it up off the ground, along with the switchblade.

"Let's bail!" Sven cried as Rinslett gave a hard kick to one guard, knocking him down. With moves faster than I could blink, Sven activated a setting on the brief case and took the other guards down with something similar to a helicopter blade, painful but not deadly, and I took down two guards using defense moves.

All three of us burst out through the room doors and ran down the hallway, not bothering to check if there were any guards on our tails.

"Geez, what was that all about?" Rinslett asked us as we ran down the stairs.

"We can't explain it all right now, but" Sven panted, still weak from the vision eye I guess. "Eve, Eve's going to turn into a monster." The memory of Eve flashed into my mind, the eyes blank of emotion, her speed, and the blades. We can't let that happen.

We burst through the front doors out into the courtyard, and then screeched to a stop when we saw Eve.

"Oh-no," Sven gasped. "It's already happened to her!"

Blades had shot out of Eve's back and hair; and she looked like some sort of monstrous half human half razor blade spider thing. She stood on top of the fountain in the courtyard, razor blades extended. And there was Black Cat, still desperately trying to dodge said razor blades. Black Cat's agility was impressive, I'll give him credit, but there was no way he'd be able to dodge the blades forever.

"You can't do this Eve!"Sven cried. We all stumbled as some of courtyard's foundation was uprooted beneath our feet.

Torneo's voice crackled from the flower. "You're hopeless, Eve doesn't have her own mind now, and nothing you can say will reach her now!" I turned and saw Torneo on the roof of the mansion, looking down at us, amused. "Until Black Cat lies dead on the ground, she'll never stop, never!"

"You forget, Torneo," Sven said. I looked at his face, and I could tell I wasn't going to like the plan he had cooking. "Even at the hardest times, a gentleman won't give up!"

"Is that so?" Torneo asked.

Sven gave a battle cry and charged right towards Eve.

"Sven, NO!" I cried. "You'll get yourself killed!" I tried to run after him, but Rinslett grabbed my arm. "LET GO!" I cried. "He'll get killed!"

"And so will you if you get careless!" Rinslett cried.

I tried to pull away, but Rinslett had a surprisingly strong hold. So all I could do was watch in horror as Sven charged forward. Eve turned and faced Sven as he ran forward, screaming. She must've thought that he was trying to help Black Cat, because she turned her razor blades on Sven. They flew past him, slicing his hair, his clothes, his hat, and his face. Blood flew into the air as Sven gave one big leap of faith, right towards Eve.

"EVE I KNOW YOU'RE NOT A MONSTER!" He screamed. He reached out for the NS amplifying oscillator card. And then I heard a metallic slash, and a splatter.

I gasped in horror. Eve had pierced Sven, right through the chest with her right arm, but Sven had done it, he held the NS card in his hand. He dropped his brief case, and I screamed. Eve transformed from the monster, back to the girl we met at the park. She looked horrified, but Sven raised his head a bit, and gave her a weak smile. Tears flowed from Eve's eyes as she put him down gently on the ground.

"SVEN!" I broke free from Rinslett's grasp and ran towards them. "No… no god… oh my god…" I could feel tears burning the back of my eyes.

"It's ok…" he said softly. "I'll live… it's not a deep wound, and none of my vital organs were hit…"

"I'm… sorry…" I looked up at Eve, she was crying. "I'm a… demon…"

I walked over and knelt down to her height. "Stop calling yourself that," My voice cracked a bit. "You're not a monster, you're just Eve… you're free now…"

"She's now a failed experiment," Torneo said. "And it's because of you …" I heard a click, and I looked up to see him aim a gun at me. "And now, you will die!" he pulled the trigger, and I heard the bang. There wasn't enough time to get out of the way, and Sven couldn't help me.

"NO!" Eve cried, and stood in front of me. She took the bullet for me, and fell backwards.

"EVE!" I cried, holding her close, but she smiled.

"Don't worry," She said. Through the bullet hole, I saw that her flesh was shiny. "At the last second, I turned the skin to steel." The bullet fell off and rolled to the ground. "Were my powers, good for once, Kirsten?"

I smiled. "Yes," I hugged her, and she hugged me back. "Yes they were good… you're a good person…" I felt tears roll down my cheeks.

"You are too…" She said,

"Let's get out of here!" Rinslett cried, carrying Sven. Me and Eve ran after them, not stopping for breath. When we did stop, we sat on an over-view of the town, and I saw Torneo's mansion explode minutes later

"Nice job on the explosions," Sven complimented as he lay down, his wounds patched up.

"I didn't do that," Rinslett said. "The place was trashed before I ever began, you should've seen it."

"You think Black Cat got into the lab before you did?" Sven asked.

"Maybe…"

"But… this is what you wanted all along, right?" Sven asked. Rinslett faced him. "I have a feeling this… this was never about money for you."

Rinslett faced the explosion. "Sorry, but I never intended to hide that fact from you." She looked mournful. "The military facility Torneo destroyed was in the town where I grew up. Ever since I was a little girl I had enjoyed the sun light, the beautiful flowers and the peaceful nature of it all." Rinslett tensed. "He took that away from everyone who didn't die that day."

"I see…" I say, facing the fire of the mansion.

"So what do you plan on doing with the girl?" Rinslett asked.

Before we could answer, I heard a click and I whipped around to face Black Cat, aiming his gun at Eve.

"No!" Sven cried.

I glared at him. "It's over now, Black Cat, you lost."

We were all silent, and then amazingly, Black Cat lowered the gun, turned around, and walked away.

"I don't get that guy…" Sven said.

"Me neither…" I face Rinslett. "But in answer to your question, for now let's go back to Annett's place."

Sven got up. "Well let's go then," We walk back to the truck, but I felt Eve hold my hand the whole way to the truck.


End file.
